


Prisoner

by 18lzytwner



Series: Law & Order SVU Second Series [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2019-07-06 15:44:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 35,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15889071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/18lzytwner/pseuds/18lzytwner
Summary: When there seems to be some sort of mix up in a correctional facility north of the city, Olivia and Rollins head up there to investigate. What they find throws the team into turmoil. In the middle of the case, things take a turn at home for Olivia and she discovers just what it means to be a new mom. Starts Bensidy and wanders into E/O.





	1. Chapter 1

Olivia strolled back into what was now her office again. She was clutching the coffee cup in her hand fairly tightly. The last few nights had been interesting at the apartment to say the least.

Noah was an adorable baby. There was no denying that. The only issue was he wasn't sleeping very well. The social worker warned her that the first few nights in another strange place might make him upset and she had been right. Luckily, she had been able to quiet him and they fell asleep in the rocking chair which Brian's parents had insisted they bring over.

Despite the initial shock of bringing little Noah home, Brian had been all smiles. He even called his parents who swung over the next day bringing all sorts of goodies. Olivia knew that neither one of them had exactly viewed themselves with a baby at this stage in their lives but she knew she had wanted one for a very long time and this was an opportunity to give Noah a real chance at life especially after what happened to his mother.

"Morning Liv," Fin poked his head into the office before entering the room fully.

"Morning," she smiled before taking a large swig of coffee.

"Does it feel good to be behind the desk again?" He asked.

"Only if Amaro and Rollins don't go off the rails again," she admitted.

"I wouldn't hold my breath. Although Nick will probably shape up considering," Fin smirked. Nick was very close to losing his badge and the unit had been through enough turmoil, trying to break in another new detective would not be good for anyone involved.

"Good morning Sergeant. I've got the Warden on the line from Taconic Correctional Facility. They have a problem up there," Rollins poked her head in.

"Why exactly would it be our problem?" She asked. Taconic was an hour north of the city and definitely out of their jurisdiction.

"I'll pass you the call," Rollins offered.

"You better. Thanks," Olivia nodded. Fin took that as his cue to leave and he left her alone, closing the door behind him.

"This is Sergeant Benson, Manhattan SVU," she said.

"Good morning Sergeant. This is Warden Jim Drysdale up at Taconic Correctional. I received an inmate last night from your precinct and…"

"You'll have to forgive me for interrupting but we didn't send any female inmates out yesterday. We don't typically send anyone anywhere unless it's to Rikers," Olivia interrupted.

"Her paperwork says she came from the sixteenth precinct and my driver picked her up there," Drysdale said.

"There must have been some sort of mistake," Olivia shook her head even though he couldn't see her.

"I'm beginning to think this was more than a mistake. Can you send some people up here?" The warden asked.

"I will see what I can do and get some people up there immediately," Olivia agreed.

"You better make sure its female officers. Our newest inmate seems to want nothing to do with male officers. I've got her in a safe place for now but it is far from ideal," Drysdale explained.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do. Officers will be up there before ten am," with that Olivia hung up. She slammed down the rest of her cooling coffee and walked out into the bull pen.

"It seems that the problem up at Taconic requires two female officers. Rollins, gear up. Fin, can you hold the fort until we get back?" Olivia wanted to know.

"You got it," he nodded.

"What's going on?" Nick asked as he walked into the bull pen from the locker room.

"Something is very wrong up at Taconic Correctional. Look up all of the prisoner transports from the past few days. I want to know who was transferred where and by whom and I want it on my desk by the time we get back. Also I want camera footage from any cameras around the building. We may have a very big problem," Olivia told him.

"Sounds like fun. What kind of problem?" Fin asked.

"Until I get up to Taconic, I'm not exactly sure," she admitted.

"Safe travels," Nick nodded as Rollins moved toward Olivia. The sergeant nodded and the two were off for the correctional facility.


	2. Chapter 2

"Sergeant Benson?" The guard at the prison gate asked.

"That's me and this is Detective Rollins. We're here to see the Warden," Olivia smiled as flashed her badge and Amanda did the same.

"He said you'd be coming. I'll radio ahead for an escort," the guard smiled and gave a slight nod. They passed through the gate and Olivia parked the car. They headed for the main doors when a male guard exited the building. He was about six foot five and around two hundred and fifty pounds. Built like a brick and enough muscles that they almost popped out of his tight uniform.

"So you suppose he keeps the order in the chow line?" Rollins asked.

"I think they have a bigger problem than they realize. There would be no way for an inmate to defend herself against him," Olivia pointed out. Her experiences from Sealview told her that he would be able to assault prisoners without much of a problem.

"Ladies are you the detectives here to see the Warden?" He asked, his voice was deep and it almost boomed.

"I'm Sergeant Benson and this is Detective Rollins," Olivia spoke up and they once again flashed their badges.

"I'm Officer Calhoun. Right this way," he gestured toward the door and they headed inside. Following the large officer through the facility they quickly reached the Warden's office. Calhoun knocked and the Warden bade him to enter.

"Thanks for making the trip up here," Drysdale said after the introductions and seats were taken.

"No problem. What exactly do you have for us?" Olivia asked.

"Chip, why don't you fill them in on what happened last night?" Jim requested of his subordinate.

"I received word that a prisoner needed a ride from the sixteenth precinct and I headed down there to pick her up. The officer met me outside the precinct, handed me the paperwork, made sure I secured the inmate into my van and then I turned around and headed back. It was a little out of the ordinary as I usually pick up inmates at Rikers but it was late at night and I know that sometimes there needs to be alternate pick up sites," the guard explained.

"Did anything else seem off to you?" Rollins asked.

"Well not that my pickups are often friendly but usually they watch the world go by outside because they know that it'll be the last time in a long time they are going to be in the city. This one looked down at her hands the whole ride and didn't say anything at all. I tried to strike up a little conversation as I thought maybe what she needed was someone to listen but she never answered me or even looked up. She flinched when I touched her to help her in and out of the van. I've transported a lot of prisoners but never once have I had them flinch," Calhoun admitted.

"Really?" Olivia asked; her own curiosity at that last statement got the better of her.

"I may look intimidating ma'am but I assure you, it's all show," Chip smiled slightly.

"A big teddy bear, this one. That's why I send him on the transport. A friendly face or a kind word or two can go a long way when an inmate first gets here," Drysdale gave a wink. Olivia nodded and Amanda asked,

"Where did you take the inmate?"

"Well I wanted to see if maybe the doctor should have a look at her but the minute we walked through the door and she saw it was a man, she freaked. The Doc sedated her and we decided it wouldn't be a good idea for her to be around men when she woke up," Chip explained.

"This is where I'm sure I'm going to get chastised but it was the only place I could think to put her," Drysdale spoke up as he lifted himself out of his seat and headed for the door.

"If you ladies will follow me," the Warden said. Chip stood up and followed them out of the office, closing the door and making sure that it was locked.

"Chip, resume your usual duties and if we need you we'll let you know. Thanks for all your help with this," Jim smiled slightly.

"Yes, sir," Calhoun nodded and headed back off down the hall. When he was far enough away, and they had progressed down the hall, Drysdale spoke up,

"Before you go questioning my choices as far as prison guards, you should know there has never been a complaint against this facility for sexual assaults of the inmates by the guards. I saw that look on your face Sergeant. You were the one that helped bust the problem at Sealview weren't you?" Olivia swallowed hard and Rollins took note. She had no idea what happened over at this place but the look on her face was similar to the one the younger detective had seen on the Sergeant when William Lewis was mentioned.

"I was. The women in here have committed crimes but they certainly don't deserve to be assaulted," Olivia said.

"Which is why I only hire the cleanest personnel I can find. Chip has been on the force for almost fifteen years. Never one compliant or accusation," Drysdale explained.

"That's odd. I think most guards have at least one stupid complaint because someone has a grudge or gets bored real easy," Rollins spoke up.

"Well it helps that Chip works here. He'd probably have more complaints in a male facility given that he and his boyfriend juts adopted this adorable baby," Drysdale explained as they walked through another gate.

"Good for them," Olivia tried to contain her surprise. Corrections officers rarely talked about their personal lives as it could come back to haunt him should a rather vindictive inmate find out.

"Here we are, Cellblock A. Down this hallway, please," Drysdale gestured and the two detectives followed. All of the cells were empty and Rollins made note that the prison yard was full of inmates.

"You put the inmate in here?" Olivia asked; her eyebrows raised.

"She's not by herself. One of our trustees is watching over her. In fact as crazy as it sounds, I'm going to miss this inmate. She's been one of the few bright spots," the Warden explained. Rollins gave her superior a skeptical look and Olivia nodded. This was not the run of the mill prison.

"Rachel, I'm here with some detectives," Drysdale said as the guard opened the closed cell door.

"Good thing sir. I don't…" Rachel trailed off when she saw who was standing there.

"Detective Benson?" She asked.


	3. Chapter 3

"You two know each other?" Drysdale asked.

"Yes, I worked her case some years back. How'd you end up here Rachel?" Olivia asked confused that a former victim was now behind bars.

"It's a long story but I think this poor girl has a longer one," Rachel admitted. She was a petite Caucasian woman with closely cut blonde hair, reminiscent of one of Olivia's old hairstyles. She couldn't have weighed more than one hundred and twenty-five pounds soaking wet but there she was. It wasn't until Olivia entered the cell and shook her hand that she realized Rachel had been working out.

"So what can you tell us?" Olivia asked, pulling her aside while Rollins tried to confer with the woman on the bottom bunk. The Warden backed away to give them some space.

"Well when Chip brought her over, I sized her up, I have to admit, like I do every new inmate that comes in. That's when I realized she was still wearing makeup. Now most girls who come in here don't have that on. She let me take a look at her and she's got some nasty bruises where the clothes cover but also some nasty ones that clothes don't cover," the woman admitted. Olivia shook her head.

"I'm not sure your partner is going to get much out of her. I tried my darnedest but she hasn't said a word to me, just pointed and stuff. How'd the heck did she end up here anyway?" Rachel asked.

"I have no idea. I'm just glad that the Warden called," Benson told her, keeping her growing concerns to herself.

"Well do me a favor, let me know when you catch the son of a bitch that did this to her," Rachel said.

"I will. How'd you end up in here anyway? I thought rehab was going well," Olivia wanted to know.

"Well it was until the anniversary came around. I fell and I fell hard. One day the narcs raided my dealer's place and I was higher than a kite on a windy day. Said if I gave up everything I could on my dealer that they'd only put me away for possession. I agreed so I got one year at Rikers. Then I got in a fight there and a corrections officer got hit, not by me, but the system decided that they were going to make an example out of both me and the other lady. They sent me up here for another two years on top of my year. I got here, I got clean and I've been the model citizen I should have been before the meth took over. I'm getting out in a couple of months. Don't want to mess that up," Rachel explained. She had definitely been hardened by her experiences and Olivia couldn't help but feel responsible.

"I should have been there for you more. I should have kept checking in on you," she admitted.

"Why so you could arrest me? You caught the guy that hurt me. The rest I did on my own," the inmate told her.

"Sergeant, she needs a hospital visit and we need to see if we can get Doctor Huang back for a little bit," Rollins came up to them.

"All right. Let's get her into the car and we'll take her. I don't want this going out over the radio in case whoever got her here is listening," Olivia said before heading back out into the hallway and approaching Drysdale.

"Warden, I'm going to need that transfer paperwork you got. Make sure to make a copy for your records," Olivia told him.

"Absolutely," the warden nodded and radioed to his secretary to get the paperwork in order.

"Shall we head back to my office?" He asked.

"Yes. We're going to take her to the hospital ourselves," Benson explained.

"I'll give you directions and alert them you're on your way. Should I call the local police as well?" Drysdale wanted to know.

"No. I'll call my detectives when we get to the hospital," Olivia said.

"Very good," the warden nodded.

"Thanks for your help Rachel. Make sure to drop me a line when you get out," Benson turned to the blonde and handed her, her card.

"I will. Thanks," Rachel smiled and watched them go off down the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

"How bad is it Doctor?" Olivia asked the attending medical man on staff at the nearby Northern Westchester Hospital.

"Well the only way to give her an exterior physical was to sedate her. When the nurses tried to help take her clothes off she panicked. My guess is that English is not her first language because nothing we said made any difference. One of the nurses tried Spanish and that didn't work either.

"Once we were able to start the exam, the bruising we discovered has me very worried. I'm waiting for the x-ray results to come back but my guess is that we'll find multiple healed fractures and probably some new ones. Aside from being beaten, she seems to be in good shape. Someone was feeding her and taking care of her because she's not malnourished and she was clean. We're waiting on more extensive blood results to see if there is anything that we aren't seeing right off the bat," Doctor Bernstein explained. He stood at about six foot with short close cropped brown hair and appeared to be in his fifties.

"Thank you for letting Detective Rollins take the photos. We need to get these to our medical expert and the team in the city," Olivia smiled slightly.

"Well don't treat them as absolute gold. One of the nurses took hair samples for drug testing and noted that the patient's hair had been dyed. It may be brown now but my guess is that it was originally red or auburn, possibly blonde too. It's been dyed a lot so my guess is that they moved around a lot trying to disguise her. I hate to ask but what do you think happened to her?" The doctor wanted to know.

"Everything bad you can think of Doctor. I'm not exactly sure what we have here. My first thought was domestic abuse but now that she seems to have limited communication skills, I worry that she's been trafficked since she was a little girl. I have a call into a psychiatrist to see if he can help and I'm working on getting translators for possible communication attempts but I'm in the dark as much as you," Olivia admitted.

"Well as soon as the test results are in, I'll let you know what they have found. The gynecologist on staff should almost be finished with the internal exam," Bernstein gave a tight smile and then walked away. Olivia walked back to the two chairs that had been pulled up outside of the room where the patient was being examined. Rollins stood up and handed the Sergeant her phone. Olivia flipped through the photos and her heart sunk. Dark very recent bruises appeared on the woman's midsection, chest, arms, back, thighs, and knees. Lighter almost healed ones appeared on her face after the nurses had removed her makeup.

"What did Fin say about the tapes and records I asked for?" Olivia asked.

"He said TARU is trying to clean up the video footage and so far all the prisoner transports check out. Do we have a sicko on the force?" Rollins wanted to know.

"It's beginning to look that way. The paperwork that Chip was handed seems legit. The only glaring detail is that my signature doesn't actually match my real signature. Of course, no one up here would know that and if Warden Drysdale hadn't been alerted to his new prisoner's condition, our Jane Doe would have been in prison a long time before anyone said anything. The perp had to be betting on that," Benson heaved a sigh.

"Should we put a call into Lieutenant Eames? She may have knowledge of someone who has been trafficking women and drugs across the border," Rollins suggested.

"Let's hold off on that. We're not sure if she's been trafficked at all. Until we know what language she speaks, I want to keep this in house as much as possible. Let's run down what we do know," the Sergeant said.

"All right. We have a Caucasian female victim approximately five foot seven, weighing one hundred and thirty pounds. She has extensive bruising, possible broken bones, and no apparent language skills. She was put in prison by someone who knows the system and has managed to circumvent the usual channels of command. My thing is, why our precinct? I mean there are plenty of other SVU precincts in the city. Why ours?" Rollins puzzled.

"That is a very good question," Benson nodded.

"X-ray results are all in and I've taken a look at them," Doctor Bernstein approached the two detectives.

"How bad is it?" Rollins asked.

"She's had multiple breaks in her arms and her legs which have healed. There is a hairline fracture on her collarbone which has not healed and a few hairline fractures on her ribs. There is obvious remodeling of the ribs so my guess is that whoever beat her knew what they were doing," Bernstein told them.

"How do you figure Doctor?" Benson asked.

"Well given the bruising, my guess is that our attacker made every attempt to harm her without causing damage that would actually require a hospital visit. Broken bones can be set without ever visiting a hospital but when a broken rib is involved a hospital trip is usually required to make sure that nothing was punctured. The slight hairline fractures I found would be enough to cause pain but also enough to heal by themselves provided the patient was not forced into any physical labor. She's going to need to be under our watch and care for the next few days at least," the Doctor explained.

"How long until we can take her to the city?" Olivia worried that the longer they were delayed in getting to the city, the better the chance that the perpetrator would have skipped town. Just then the gynecologist, Doctor Hill, exited the room.

"You are the detectives correct?" She asked. The African-American woman had a frown on her face that told both the detectives the news they were about to get was not good.

"Yes, we are," Rollins nodded.

"Well she certainly has been assaulted. I found tearing and scar tissue. I'm going to send the kit to the lab," she explained.

"Have them forward the results to the precinct, please," Benson gave her a card.

"Will do," and with that the doctor headed off down the hall.

"I'd give us until at least tomorrow afternoon before you can take her anywhere but that's pushing it," Bernstein said.

"Sounds good Doctor. Thanks again for all your help," Benson smiled at him. He nodded and then took off down the hall.

"I'll call Brian. You call Fin," she turned to Rollins and said.


	5. Chapter 5

Doctor Bernstein made them wait two days before reluctantly releasing the victim into their custody. Olivia promised that she would go to a hospital in the city and that they would hand the new attending physicians her paperwork. Still the older man frowned but he could do little to stop them. There were more treatment options available in the city and that was just the way it was.

The ride back to the city and over to Mercy Hospital was quiet. The victim did not say anything and the detectives were buried in their thoughts. Finally when they arrived at the hospital and helped her out of the car, did anyone say anything.

"You're safe here," Rollins gave a slight smile. She had no idea if the woman understood her or not but it was worth a try. They made their way inside and were directed to the patient's new room. When they reached the room two officers stood outside the door and checked in with the Sergeant while Rollins helped the victim get settled in her room.

"No one but medical personnel in or out. I want to be notified the minute anyone outside of the medical personnel and my team tries to see her," she told them.

"Yes, Sergeant," the two female officers said.

"Good. Do we have a duty roster for who will be taking the next shifts?" Olivia asked.

"Detective Tutuola promised he'd handled it. Paperwork is on your desk ma'am," the older of two officers, Debbie Smith, explained.

"Very good. Thank you," Benson smiled and then turned around to make some phone calls. She didn't get the chance to however as Doctor George Huang walked up to her.

"Olivia," he smiled.

"George. Thanks for coming to help," she smiled back.

"No problem. Got me out of Oklahoma. What do you think we have?" He asked. She quickly filled him in on what they had discovered so far. The blood test results had shown that she had syphilis and the doctors were pumping her full of penicillin which would also clean up any other infections she had. The full results back from the internal exam showed nothing as far as DNA as she'd been cleaned but the full depth of the repeated abuse showed that whoever had been assaulting the victim had been doing it awhile. There were no drugs in her system at the time but there were signs of habitual injections that had been full of cocaine.

"Sounds like she may not talk because she has never needed to. Whoever kept her away from other people did so in order to protect himself. My guess is that the only time she saw the light of day was when they needed to move and that's why her hair was dyed so many times. Our perp probably drugged her in order to get her to travel with him," Huang made some suppositions.

"Well I hope you and the translators can figure it out. Without her saying anything, we have very little to go on. The video cameras outside the precinct got us a general description but he hid his face from the cameras. Why do you think he would put her in prison? Why not kill her and dump her?" Olivia wondered. They were terrible thoughts but ones that had to be thought of.

"His ego probably prevented him from killing her. He has had total control for so long he probably figured that he'd get away with what he had done. Face it, if your Warden up at Taconic didn't actually care about his prisoners, then we would have never known about her," George pointed out.

"Maybe there was some heat on him and the only way to make sure she was available for when it died down was to incarcerate her. Like you said, if we hadn't caught a break with the Warden, who knows what would have happened. Given that he got her in prison, he probably figured he could get her out," Olivia nodded. George nodded and replied,

"Well I better get in there and she if I can help her at all. I'll swing by the precinct when we're done."

"Sounds good. Thanks again Doc," she smiled slightly.

"No thank you. I really miss New York," he half-smiled and headed into the room. Rollins walked out as he walked in and said they'd better get back to the precinct and see if they could drum up any missing persons reports. Benson agreed and they were on their way to the car when her phone rang.

"Benson," she answered.

"Liv, we need to talk. Are you going to be available tonight?" It was Brian; he sounded exhausted.

"I'll sneak out for a little bit to see you and Noah," she promised.

"Good, I'll see you later," Brian said before hanging up.

"What was that all about?" Rollins asked after seeing her commanding officer's face.

"I'm not entirely sure," Olivia admitted.


	6. Chapter 6

Doctor Huang had gotten nowhere in his first attempt to speak to the victim. In fact, she tried to get away from him. The translators tried to get her attention but none of the languages they spoke seemed to register. Needless to say, the doctor's called a stop to it and had Jane Doe sedated.

Huang promised to try again the following day as they were not getting anywhere that evening. Olivia sent the team home after the missing persons report turned up nothing. They sent the forged signature off to the handwriting analysis crew who promised to have something in the morning. With no leads and the team running out of options, a good night's sleep was in order.

Olivia parked her standard issue detectives' vehicle and hopped out. She had called Brian to tell him that she was on her way home and he sounded relieved. She worried that he hadn't gotten enough sleep before heading out on his late shift.

"Bri, I'm home," she said as she entered the apartment. She didn't raise her voice as the silence that greeted her, told her that perhaps the baby was asleep.

"Thank God," he mumbled from the other room. She put her keys down on the table near the door and popped off her footwear. Heading into the living room, she found him half-sleeping in the sitting position on the sofa. Noah was sleeping on his chest. It was adorable and she hated to wake either one but Brian had to be to work in an hour and it took him twenty-five minutes to get there. Carefully, she extracted Noah and carried him to his bed. He barely fussed as she laid him down and covered him up.

Moving out into the living room, she gently shook Brian. He rolled his head to the left and slowly opened his eyes.

"You have to get ready for your shift," she told him.

"How much time do I have?" He asked, half out of it.

"Just enough time to slam down some coffee and take a cold shower to wake up," Olivia told him. He grumbled and she helped him off of the sofa. Shoving him towards the bathroom, she fired up the coffee machine. It looked like they weren't going to get that talk in after all.

"Thanks," he said fifteen minutes later after he emerged from the shower and the bedroom with clean clothes on.

"Welcome. What did you want to talk about?" She asked, noting that he only had about twenty minutes before he had to leave.

"I'm not sure how much more of this I can do," Brian admitted.

"Well no one said working in Internal Affairs would be fun," Olivia smirked.

"I'm not talking about the job. I'm talking about Noah," he slumped his shoulders forward.

"I know it was a lot to take in and I know that we haven't figured out a schedule yet but we have to give being parents a chance," she told him.

"I know that you have wanted kids for a long time and I'm not saying you didn't do what anyone would do. The kid has been passed around from foster home to foster home like he was some sort of hand me down. It's not right but I never thought of being a parent at this age. I'm not sleeping, you're hardly here, and it's killing the "us" we had," Brian told her.

"We didn't have much of an "us" beforehand. Not after what happened with Lewis," Olivia admitted.

"That was all right. I told you that I would wait for you as long as you needed me to. But this is something completely different. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a parent," he heaved a sigh realizing that he had to go.

"We'll talk more about this when I get home. Try to have a good night," he smiled slightly and slammed the rest of the coffee that sat in the mug down. Pecking a kiss on her temple, Brian tuned and headed for the door.

"You know I love you right?" He asked.

"I know," she smiled slightly but underneath that smile, her heart was breaking in two. Tears were threatening to fall and she tried to make it seem as though continuing the conversation at a later date was all right.

Brian could see right through her and he looked down at the ground before closing the door on his way out. Olivia walked to the door and listened to his footsteps head for the elevator. Once she heard the ding and the doors close, she turned around and pressed her back into the front door. Tears flowed from her eyes as she covered her face, sliding down the door as she did so. Once her backside hit the floor, the tears just kept coming.


	7. Chapter 7

A knock on her office door shook her from her thoughts and she bade whoever was on the other side of it to come in.

"Hey Liv, we may…" Fin stopped in his tracks. He could tell right off the bat that something was wrong. Before Lewis, the only person who could ever tell something was up with her was Elliot. Now, despite what he knew were her best efforts, it wasn't hard at all.

"What?" She asked, noticing his pause.

"You ok?" He wanted to know, making sure the door behind him was closed.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh I don't know. You have a new baby at home, you're still not over Lewis, and my guess is that Brian isn't too keen on having a kid around," Fin nailed it on the head and Olivia heaved a sigh.

"You know you can talk to me right?" He asked after her silence.

"I appreciate it, I do, but we're not here to run therapy sessions. We're here to catch bad guys," she reminded him.

"Bad guys are why we're here but we've been doing that a long time. Friendship should be in there somewhere," Fin told her.

"And for that, you have no idea how grateful I am. But right now, I just need some time to think," Olivia admitted.

"No problem. You know where to find me if you need me," he smiled.

"I do. Now why did you come in here?" She asked.

"The handwriting guys may have something. Thought you'd want to run down to the lab with me," Fin explained.

"Let's roll. Any luck with Doctor Huang?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Rollins is down at the hospital with him. I've got Nick hunting for more translators," he told her. She nodded, grabbed her gear, and they headed out to the lab.

"So what do you have for us Liwicki?" Olivia asked the tech as he was pulling the fake signature up on the screen.

"Usually I prefer a larger sample of writing but this is very interesting," Liwicki told him.

"As interesting as watching paint dry," Fin smirked.

"You would think but check out the slant of the writing," the tech gave the detective a chuckle.

"It slants to the left. What exactly is so weird about that?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Well it doesn't entirely narrow down our field of suspects but it does suggest that we could be dealing with a loner; someone who might be good at hiding behind the scenes. Look at how small the handwriting is. It meant that whoever was writing this was concentrating very hard. Look at the loop for the "L" in "Olivia". The upstroke overlaps the downstroke which tends to indicate that the writer was tense. The "S" in "Benson" is round meaning that the person wanted to avoid confrontation. I don't think this was written by your criminal. I think this was written by your victim," Liwicki explained.

"How can that be?" Olivia asked.

"Well our perp wanted to make your signature hold up under quick scrutiny. A man attempting to write for a woman would be tough. It's not impossible but somebody would probably call it into question. Generally a man's handwriting is chicken-scratchy. Don't get me wrong, women can have chicken-scratch too but usually even that is distinguishable. At any rate, it worked. If the Warden hadn't noticed…" Liwicki didn't get a chance to finish the thought.

"Fin, we need to dig up as much information as we can on Warden Drysdale; too much of this case hinges on him contacting us. I don't like it," Olivia cut the tech off.

"On it," Tutuola nodded.

"Thanks for all your help today Liwicki. You have the biggest break in the case yet," she smiled.

"Anytime," he smiled back and went about filing the evidence away. Fin and Olivia were heading back out to the car when her phone rang. She immediately answered the call when she saw it was Rollins.

"What's going on Rollins?" Olivia asked.

"We have a break through," Amanda almost sounded giddy.

"What language does she speak?" Her commanding officer wanted to know.

"Well she doesn't exactly speak. At least I don't think you can call it that," Rollins replied. This made Olivia stop in her tracks. Fin realized that she stopped moving and turned toward her.

"What would you call it?" Olivia was confused.

"Well the doctors ran some tests do see if there was any physical reason she wasn't talking and it turns out, she's deaf," Rollins explained. Olivia was almost dumbfounded but it seemed to make sense. No one had heard her utter a word. Of course no one had thought to check for that sooner as they were more focused on getting her ready for transport and getting her initial injuries assessed. She had no hearing aids, so outwardly it appeared like she didn't know how to speak English, not that she literally couldn't understand it due to her lack of hearing.

"We'll meet you down at the hospital," Olivia told her before hanging up.

"We've got to get to the hospital now," she told Fin.


	8. Chapter 8

"Something is really bothering me about this case," Olivia told Doctor Huang at the hospital. The two were alone outside of the patient's room while Rollins was talking to Fin and the interpreter inside the room.

"Just one something or a lot of something's?" Huang wanted to know.

"Well a lot to be honest but the first one is definitely, who doesn't report their special needs family member missing?" Olivia was confused.

"It's not actually all that uncommon. Families who are over stressed because of their relative's special needs tend to be relieved that the person is gone and then their guilt for feeling that way often leads to embarrassment or fear of being embarrassed when they admit their feelings," Huang explained.

"We aren't talking about a kid who missed a couple days of school Doc. We're talking about a woman who probably has been abused for years. No one noticed she was missing in her neighborhood or at school? No one outside the nuclear family thought to call the cops when they hadn't seen their cousin or grandchild in a while?" Olivia asked.

"Maybe there was no one who could call," he suggested. The thought hit Olivia like a ton of bricks. What if the woman was being raised by a single parent? The parent doesn't come home one day, the rent doesn't get paid, and then the kid is out on the streets or in foster care where trusting someone is definitely not always an option. Upon aging out of the system, she'd be on her own. Her heart practically snapped in two and Huang could tell that her mind was racing through all of the less than desirable scenarios.

"Has the translator been able to get anywhere?" She changed the subject.

"So far all we have is a first name, Ellen. She can't tell us where she's from or even her last name. The interpreter is having trouble because of Ellen's limited vocabulary. My guess is that she doesn't have anything past a third grade education," Huang heaved a sigh.

"Good God," Olivia shook her head. They were dealing with one sick bastard and he was obviously not afraid of getting caught.

"We have to be concerned that our perp has disappeared and is out stalking a new victim," the FBI forensic psychiatrist admitted.

"You think that the prison was supposed to be her final stop. He didn't have any intention of coming back to get her," Olivia said.

"Given this new revelation about Ellen, the profile has changed. He didn't care if anyone found out who she was or how she got into the prison. She cannot aid in finding him. Ellen was only taught enough words to survive minimal day to day living. This makes her a perfect victim. She can't scream when someone is doing something to her. She can't call out to people on the street to rescue her from the hell she was living and she can't in adult terms describe her attacker. It will take a substantial amount of time to get a description out of her and even if we do, she won't be able to testify at a trial. Understanding the trial proceedings and how the justice system works, will take a lot of work, along with teaching her more sign language. I've got some calls in to see if there is a facility that she can go to where she can be taught everything she needs to know about living a normal life," Huang told her. Olivia just heaved a sigh before heading back into Ellen's room. Despite everything going on around her, Ellen smiled at her. It was a smile of recognition; one that gave Olivia some comfort. Ellen knew that they weren't there to hurt her and that she was safe. Safe. Right now, somewhere out there in the city, or possibly outside the city, the predator that had kidnapped Ellen was on the prowl. Olivia swallowed hard. They would catch him if it was the last thing she ever did.

Back at the precinct, Nick was running the name and education level through the system in hopes that something somewhere popped.

"I'm looking for Detective Benson," a man's voice interrupted his intense stare at the computer screen and his thoughts.

"It's Sergeant Benson now and she's out on a case. Can I help you?" Nick turned around to fully devote his attention to the man.

"Not exactly. Do you think she'll be back soon?" He asked. There was something familiar about this guy and Nick knew that despite the fact that they had never met in person, he'd seen him somewhere before.

"I don't really know. I can take a message for her and then when she does get in, I can let her know you were looking for her," Nick offered. The man heaved a sigh and said,

"To be honest, I'm not sure she'd call me." It then hit Nick just who this man was.

"You're Elliot Stabler aren't you?" Amaro asked.

"Yes I am," he admitted.


	9. Chapter 9

"You have a lot of balls showing yourself around here again," Fin said upon seeing the new arrival at the precinct as the three detectives entered the bull pen.

"I…" Elliot started but he never got the chance to finish as Fin continued,

"You want me to get his punk ass out of here Liv?" She put a hand on his shoulder. Elliot was the last thing she needed right now. All the anger and hurt of him leaving was flooding back and she wasn't sure she could handle it. However, she felt she needed to be strong in front of the team.

"You have two minutes Stabler, in my office," Benson pointed to what used to be the Captain's office before walking past him and into the room. Elliot followed and Rollins gave Fin a questioning look.

"So to what honor do we owe this appearance to?" Olivia asked, sitting behind her desk. Her tone told him that despite the time apart, her anger had not dissipated.

"It's part of the program. I'm trying to make amends," his tone was strange to her and she raised an eyebrow, as he sat across from her. He had a lot of questions as to what exactly had changed around the precinct but that would have to wait.

"Elliot Stabler does a lot of things but make amends is not one of them. At this point, we're way past that anyway," she pointed out.

"That was the old me," he nodded, admitting that his hard head rarely ever gave into the notion that he had been wrong.

"Yeah? Am I just supposed to take in the new you? What about the old you? How can I trust anything you say to me?" She demanded to know.

"I don't expect you to just take it all in at once. I filed my papers, Kathy filed hers, and from then on out I was doing all my filing at the bar. Falling off every barstool I could find. Everything stopped for me. I stopped paying the rent on the apartment, I moved into. I stopped caring what I looked like or smelled like or whether or not I bathed at least once in a while. It got so bad that it only hit me when I was living in a storage unit with every possession I owned and Kathy refused to let me see Eli. At that moment, I checked into rehab," Elliot admitted. It was hard to admit, especially to the woman who had been his partner for so many years and the woman he knew he loved more than any other woman on the planet.

The tough façade that Olivia had been putting up started to crumble but only for an instant. Then the walls that she had put up to protect herself from him, sealed back up the cracks that had started to show.

"Yes well we all have our little problems don't we?" The acid in her tone was undeniable. This side of Olivia was not one you wanted to be on the wrong side of.

"There is no way to go back and change what happened. I only want to make what time we do have working our way back to some semblance of the friendship we once had," Elliot told her.

"We can't ever have that again Stabler. While you were off having your little pity party, I was here, trying to keep things together, trying to make myself get out of bed every morning, trying to still do the job that I loved. All that changed when you weren't there for me when I needed you and I got raped!" That shout did it. Fin came busting in through the office door, grabbed Elliot by the collar and hauled him out of the chair he'd been sitting in.

"Time's up asshole," he said as he pushed him through the doorway. Nick and Amanda watched as the elder detective dragged Elliot out to the hallway and shoved him toward the elevator. Nick decided at that moment, he'd better assist Fin. Elliot had seemingly woken out of his stupor from whatever Olivia had yelled at him the two of them were going at it. Amanda however was rooted to her spot until she heard what she thought was crying. She quickly headed for Olivia's office. The blonde didn't knock, she just moved into the room.

"Sergeant?" She asked, half terrified that Olivia's wrath would extend to her. They had grown close but when the incident with Amanda's gambling had almost ruined the squad, what bond they had, they lost.

"Is he gone?" Olivia wiped her eyes. It was obvious that the tears that made her makeup run were not done and she was barely keeping it together.

"Fin and Nick are handling it. You need me to do anything? Can I get you anything?" Amanda wanted to know as she picked up the chair that Fin had knocked over on the way out.

"I just need a few minutes to myself," she admitted.

"Yes ma'am," Rollins nodded and headed for the door. However, something made her stop in the doorway. Fin and Nick were walking back into the room; Elliot was being handcuffed and led away by some uniforms.

"What did you guys do?" She asked, concerned that Nick was now bleeding from his nose and Fin had a bit of a limp. Those words made Olivia get out of her chair and come up from behind the young detective.

"We got him. Had the Officer Johnson collar him for assaulting a police officer," Fin said.

"I think he broke my nose," Nick admitted as Amanda finally moved from her spot and headed for the first aid kit.

"I want you both checked out by your own private doctors. Where are they taking Elliot?" Olivia asked.

"To holding downstairs. It's too late to be arraigned tonight," Fin said. Olivia just nodded and headed back inside her office. The Sergeant picked up her desk phone and called downstairs. She gave the orders to the officers down there not to send the prisoner for arraignment in the morning, no charges would be filed, and that she would handle his release. The officer on duty said that the former detective was asking for her. Olivia heaved a sigh before telling him she'd be down as soon as she could. Hanging up her phone, she headed back out to the bull pen.

"Go get yourselves checked out and I'll see you all in the morning," she said.

"Liv, I…" Fin started.

"You did what you had to do and I'm going to do what I have to do. There won't be any charges filed against Elliot and I'll make sure that no one here gets in trouble. It's a misunderstanding. I appreciate you all jumping to my defense," Olivia smiled slightly. Fin stood up and walked over to her. Before she knew it, he had pulled her into a hug.

"You take care of yourself baby girl," he whispered, knowing that round two with Stabler would be once they'd all left.

"I will," she promised.


	10. Chapter 10

Olivia made him stew for a little while dreading the follow up interrogation that was undoubtedly to come. Her heart had taken over and the emotional riptide had caused her to spit out a secret that only three other people knew. There was no hiding it now. Heaving a sigh, she stood up and headed out of her office. She was done for the night here.

Once down at the holding cells, she asked the officer to leave them alone for a few minutes. He balked, department procedure and all, and she said that let her worry about the department. Nodding, the officer left his station and she turned to Elliot who was sitting on the bench. She didn't open the door, figuring it was better if he had to stay in one spot.

"Who else knows?" He asked without looking up from the floor.

"Only the Captain, Brian, and my therapist," she said. He nodded before rising up from his spot and walking to the bars. There was an awkward moment of silence before he spoke again,

"William Lewis." Olivia could only nod. She swallowed hard, knowing what she said next needed to be said,

"I'm having you released but this will be the last time we see each other. You waltz into the precinct again and I'm having you arrested for busting Nick's nose and hitting Fin in the shins. You show up anywhere in my life and I'm flagging down the nearest patrol car. Do you understand me?" She thought she would get an argument. She thought that he would try to reach through the bars of the cell. Instead his shoulders slumped even more than they already had. His head hung down so that his chin was touching his chest.

"I'm sorry," was all he said. By now the internal pain was building for both of them and Olivia knew if she stood there any longer the walls that she had carefully crafted would break and the dam would open the floodgates. Crying now was not an option. She had to remain firm or she was just going to get hurt again just as every man in her life had done. Her father started it and now she intended to finish it. The only one who would hold her heart was at her apartment and he was still in diapers.

She didn't say a word as she turned and headed for the door. She held up the façade while talking to the officer about releasing Elliot. She held it up all the way to her standard issue sedan. Once inside she locked the doors and the floodgates opened.

Later as she opened the apartment door, she found a note on the mirror above the stand where she and Brian dropped their keys. It read,

"Had to drop Noah off with Mrs. Schumacher, down the hall, before I took off for work. Talk to you when I get home." Olivia heaved a sigh. Oh they would talk all right.

Meanwhile, in a little town just outside of Taconic Correctional Facility called Mount Kisco, a call went out to the police department. A neighbor was concerned that she had seen that her neighbor had not put out the trash for pickup. Typically the neighbor, who stored her containers for her, came by and helped her get it all to the curb, given her age and lack of mobility. What had concerned her even more was that when she looked next door to see if the neighbor wasn't home, she saw the car in the driveway but the house was entirely dark. After failing to reach the neighbor by phone, she called the police.

"So batty Mrs. Wilson thinks something bad happened to her neighbor," Officer Carlyle shook his head as he and his partner climbed into their patrol car after a coffee break. The woman was a habitual caller for little things like the noisy kids across the street and the people going down the street in their cars at what she thought was above the speed limit (though it was hardly ever proven anyone was going too fast).

"Good grief. I'd tell her that we aren't going to come out to her house anymore if she keeps calling but the poor woman is all alone and she can barely move without that scooter," his partner Officer Dunlap frowned.

"I know but she just drives you nuts with some of that stuff," Carlyle admitted as he turned on the siren and they rushed over to the house in question.

Upon reaching the scene they noticed immediately that something more was off. The back door to the home was open and Carlyle radioed for backup when they saw the broken glass from the window that resided inside the door.

"I've got blood over here!" Dunlap agitatedly whispered as he discovered a blood trail on the floor. Carlyle was half way through radioing for an ambulance until he heard his partner throwing up in the next room.

"I think its Warden Drysdale," Dunlap said.

"How can you tell? His face is all bashed in," Carlyle barely held down his own vomit. They turned away from the body and made a quick sweep to discover no one else was there.

"We need the medical examiner," Carlyle announced, "We have a homicide."


	11. Chapter 11

The stillness of the night inside the apartment was shattered by a scream that would cause most people to have a shiver sent down their spine. Olivia bolted upright in bed, drenched in sweat. Another nightmare probably brought on by the day's events. Soon another wail was heard but this time it wasn't her own, it was Noah's. She shook off the wave of nausea that hit her as the memories receded back into the hidey hole she'd created for them in her mind. Getting up, Olivia quickly crossed the room and picked up the fussy toddler.

"I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean it," she cooed at him and surprisingly that seemed to work as his cries died down. Her cell phone rang and she knew the silence wasn't going to last. She quickly moved back to her bed and sat down, trying to hold onto Noah and answer her phone at the same time. Flustered as it was, she didn't check the caller ID.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Schumacher. I just…"

"Ma'am, its Detective Braunscheidel from the Mount Kisco police department. I'm sorry I'm calling at such an hour but we have a bit of a situation up here that I need your help with," the male voice said over the line. Noah was upset that his sleep was further disturbed and he decided to scream again.

"One second," Olivia said into the phone. She threw it upside down on the bed and quickly managed to calm Noah down. However, he no longer seemed to be in the mood to sleep. Heaving a sigh, she gently put him in the crib, grabbed the phone, and headed out into the kitchen to make him a bottle.

"Sorry about that. Now you said you have a situation in Mount Kisco," Olivia restated.

"We do ma'am. Again I apologize for calling now but Warden Drysdale from the Taconic Correctional Facility was found murdered in his home and he had your business card," the detective explained. Immediately, she was suspicious. They'd been looking into Drysdale to see if perhaps he was the connection to their victim and now he randomly turns up dead.

"How'd he die?" She asked.

"Someone beat the crap out of him ma'am if you'll pardon the language. We had to use DNA and fingerprints to ID him seeing as his teeth were no longer connected to his jaw," Bile rose a little in her throat and she forced it back down.

"Why would he have your business card on him? I can't imagine that a Sergeant from New York City would need to be up in our neck of the woods," he continued.

"One of my victims is in his facility. He called to discuss her upcoming release and wondered if I could come up for a visit," she lied, unsure of just who was on the other end of the line.

"Oh I see. Well I guess that someone else took out their anger on him but our leads are drying up quicker than a puddle in the sunshine," Braunscheidel said.

"Wish I could help but I only met him once," Olivia told him.

"Well can I call you at this number if we need anything?" The detective wanted to know.

"Absolutely," she said.

"Great. You try to have a good rest of your night and thanks," with that the call ended. The bottle was ready out of the microwave and Olivia tested it to make sure it wouldn't burn Noah. Then she walked back to the bedroom and placed another call as she fed him.

"Fin, sorry to wake you but we have a situation," she started. It was then she heard a knock on her front door. She froze.

"What kind of situation?" Fin asked but she didn't answer him as she set Noah down without his bottle and went for the gun safe.

"Liv? You still there baby girl?" Fin wasn't getting a response and it made him very nervous. He climbed out of bed and headed for the closet for a shirt and some pants. He asked again if she was all right but got no response. Then he heard her say,

"Oh Mrs. Schumacher, I'm sorry about the noise. I know it's late. Yes, I'll be fine. I appreciate your concern. Good night.

"Liv?" He asked again.

"Sorry about that. I just got a call from Mount Kisco Police that Warden Drysdale was beaten to death earlier today. They found my card at his house. We need to get down to the hospital, secure Ellen, and get her out of that hospital. Our guy might be onto us," Olivia explained.

"This guy is all over the map. I'll get down there right away. You want me to call Rollins?" Fin wondered.

"Yes. You two get down there. I'll call dispatch and get some extra uni's there too," she said.

"Bring her to the secure wing at Bellevue?" He asked.

"Yes, and then meet me at the precinct. Make sure they have extra guards on her," she told him. The call ended and she quickly dialed Amaro's phone. She told him to head into the precinct on the double and she'd explain once they got there. He didn't argue and promised to see her there. Once off the phone, she got Noah into his stroller, grabbed the diaper bag, and threw some real clothes on.

Once down at the precinct, Fin and Amanda found that Nick and Olivia were already there. Nick was playing with the toddler, keeping him distracted.

"So what is going on?" Amanda asked.

"Warden Drysdale was beaten to death in his home up in Mount Kisco. I received a call from a "Detective Braunscheidel" and he told me they found my business card and wanted to know if I could help them," Olivia explained.

"So you think our guy must have figured out that Ellen wasn't where he'd put her and now you're not sure if the call you got was legit," Nick said.

"Yes, I'd like you to run the number he called from. It's in my phone," she handed it to Nick and he nodded before getting on his computer.

"Say the call is legit, the guy doesn't need to take your card with him. After all, he sent our victim from here. He probably knows we figured out what he did," Rollins said.

"But we're no closer to narrowing down the suspects. Who is this guy?" Fin asked.

"The number is legit. It traces back to the Mount Kisco Police but the problem is, we have no way of knowing if any of the cops there are the ones who put Ellen in there in the first place," Nick said as he hung up his phone after getting the information from the night shift crime scene investigators.

"Then it's safe to say that Drysdale is dead. What happened when you looked into his background?" Olivia asked Fin.

"He's a widower, never had any kids. He has a sister who lives in Mount Kisco and she is married with three adult children. Only Drysdale has experience with law enforcement though," he explained.

"We need to rule out the family and all of the guards at Taconic. I want them all checked out immediately. I need to call the Chief of D's and let him know that we need help," Olivia said.

"Help? Can't we handle this on our own?" Fin gave her a look.

"We need to know that the Mount Kisco Police are clean before we do anything with them. Maybe the Chief has some contacts we can trust up there," she explained. Fin nodded and got back to work. It was going to be a long day.


	12. Chapter 12

"Sergeant Benson, I can understand your concern. Unfortunately, I have no contacts up there nor do either of us have jurisdiction. We may need to call in the Department of Corrections on this," the Chief of Detectives Muldrew said.

"Sir, the more people that know about our victim, the more danger she is in. Not only that, since we are dealing with someone who obviously knows the system, evidence could be being destroyed as we speak. Doctor Huang says that our guy won't remain dormant. He probably was looking for another victim when he somehow found out Ellen was no longer in prison," Olivia pleaded knowing that they were in a tight spot as it was.

"Did just you and Detective Rollins go to the prison?" He suddenly asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"They'll be looking for a new Warden and I have an in with someone I trust at Corrections. Which one of your other detectives could you spare?" Muldrew wanted to know.

"Detective Amaro sir," Olivia told him.

"Excellent. Have him to my office by nine am. I will put in a call to my guy. I will call you as soon as I can," the Chief said. With that the conversation was over and Olivia put the phone back in the cradle. She looked over at Noah, who was finally sleeping. Heaving a sigh, she headed back out into the bullpen.

"Amaro, get your best suit. You're going undercover as the new Warden at Taconic. The Chief is making a few calls to see if we can get you in. You need to be down at One PP by nine am. In the meantime, the rest of us will be running background checks and hopefully something will pop," Olivia explained.

"I'll get ready," Nick nodded before heading to the locker room so he could run home quickly.

"How are we doing so far?" She wanted to know as she turned to Fin and Amanda.

"So far nothing unusual about the people at Taconic. The usual prisoner complaints, a couple of excessive force complaints, but that's about it," Amanda shrugged.

"What about that guard we met who did the prisoner transport?" The Sergeant wanted to know.

"Chip Calhoun is as clean as the Warden said he was. My guess is that having him at a prison where the opposite sex doesn't do anything for him, helped with that," Rollins admitted.

"All those muscles probably help too…" Olivia trailed off, a sudden thoughtful look on her face.

"What is it Liv?" Fin asked.

"Run a check on the name Chip Calhoun outside the Corrections database," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Amanda nodded and quickly went to work.

"What about you Fin? Anything on the Warden's family?" Olivia wanted to know.

"His sister and her husband don't have any record of bad behavior and they're a little old to be our suspects. They had two boys, Sam and Nathan, and a girl named Lily. Lily lives in the city while both of her brothers stayed in Mount Kisco. Nathan is married…" Fin paused.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, confused by his sudden silence.

"Nathan is married to Chip," Rollins finished her partner's sentence, having pulled up Chip's record on the screen.

"Ok but if Chip was going to kill the warden, he wouldn't have needed the baseball bat," Benson pointed out.

"True but Sam might have a reason to hurt the Warden," Fin said as he turned his computer screen so she could see.

"Arrested for drunken disorderly, assault, theft, and menacing. The last charge happened to involve a baseball bat. It also seems like Sam was in and out of mental facilities for a while," Olivia shook her head.

"Troubled kid or psycho in the making?" Fin asked.

"I don't know but we better find out," Olivia said. Her cell phone rang and she was hoping it was the Chief of D's but the number was not familiar to her as she picked it up.

"Sergeant Benson," she said, turning away from her colleagues.

"Oh geez, he didn't say you were in the service," the voice on the other end said.

"I'm NYPD. Who is this?" She asked.

"Sorry. This is Marty the bartender down at McGillicuddy's. I've got Elliot down here and he's drunk off his ass. The only number he'd give me is yours. I'd have put him in a cab but I don't think he should be going home alone, especially since he just puked in the trash can," the man said. Olivia heaved a sigh. It seems their earlier conversation had hit them each hard.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. What's the address?" She asked.


	13. Chapter 13

Nick was off safely to One PP and the undercover operation had commenced. Fin and Doctor Huang were driving up to Mount Kisco to pay a visit to Sam, nephew to the now deceased Warden Drysdale. Rollins had managed to discover that Chip's real name had been Samson Hubbell and she joked that changing it to Chip seemed like a waste of time considering the hours he must have spent in the gym. No reason was given for the change but usually one doesn't change one's name unless there is a serious problem or one parent's were a tad brutal in the naming of their children department.

As it turned out, there was a very good reason. When Chip was a teenager, he had been hospitalized with severe injuries due to an attack by his father. The report filed by the police had noted broken ribs, broken wrist, and bruising to the kidneys and spleen (his spleen would later be removed). The cause of the attack was listed as religious differences which Rollins took to mean that coming out of the closet had not gone well for Chip. Things took a turn for the worse when another name popped in the database – one Martha Hubbell. It seems that when Martha tried to intercede on her son's behalf, she was struck which caused her to fall and hit her head on the coffee table. She was killed instantly. Mr. Hubbell went to jail for attempted murder and manslaughter. Olivia just shook her head as she headed out the door. Chip was definitely not their suspect. Of course if Sam didn't pan out, they were back to square one. They still had no leads on who took Ellen but whoever it was they knew the Warden and the Warden paid dearly for helping Ellen out.

Now, Olivia mulled over the case while holding Elliot up in the men's room over the toilet. The inside of her standard issue vehicle was being cleaned by the garage as they did their little dance of vomiting and flushing the toilet.

"What the hell?" Ken Briscoe asked as he walked into the men's room toward the sound of someone retching. It now explained why the one elevator was out of service as the maintenance man said he was cleaning something up.

"Sorry Kenny," Olivia apologized as she poked her head out of the stall.

"Sergeant?" The young Briscoe almost wet himself right there.

"I think he's almost done," she was apologetic.

"Detective Stabler?" Ken looked very confused. The younger man had never gotten into the habit of calling either of them by their first names.

"If you want to do what you came in here for, I'll close my eyes," Olivia offered.

"I can hold it. Looks like he's on the dry heaves anyway," Ken smiled slightly, unsure of what to do next.

"Tell you what, help me get him to the sink, and then you can do what you gotta do," she said.

"Deal," Ken nodded and then grabbed Elliot by the shoulder before moving him over to the sink. He then flushed the toilet while Olivia scrubbed her hands and her forearms up to her elbows at one of the empty sinks.

"All right, let's clean you up," she heaved a sigh, wetted some paper towels and got to cleaning up Elliot's face. He started to laugh and push her hands away from himself. He was really wasted. The intolerance to alcohol that had built up during his sobriety was surprising, either that or Marty over at McGillicuddy's had a lot of explaining to do.

"You want me to get some clean clothes from the gym?" Ken asked as he exited the stall and washed his hands.

"If you wouldn't mind. His shoes and his shirt took a beating," Olivia shook her head.

"No problem. I don't want to overstep my bounds here but what is he doing here anyway?" Ken asked.

"It's a long story, trust me," Olivia said.

"Yes ma'am," he nodded and then went out in search of some clothes that hadn't been vomited on. Olivia then dragged Elliot into the bullpen where Rollins jumped up and helped her into the cribs.

"Sergeant…" the blonde trailed off, wanting to ask so many questions but unsure if it was even her place.

"We'll talk about this later. Can you send Kenny in when he gets back?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Yes ma'am," Rollins nodded before heading back out the door. Olivia looked at Elliot who looked like he was ready to go to sleep. Had she driven him to fall off the wagon? Why couldn't she keep her mouth shut when she spilled the beans about what really happened with Lewis? As much as she had wanted justice for herself, the possibility of the entire world knowing that she had failed as a cop to protect herself made her not want to press charges despite what she'd always told victims. Perhaps she'd been in this business too long and her reputation was more important to her. When Lewis tried to introduce the fact that they had indeed had sex, whether consensual or not, she immediately denied everything. That had never happened and would not happen as long as she lived. She had committed perjury. Don had known it and he had asked her why she didn't press the charge. She had said that it would be difficult to prove especially since Lewis had been pushing that her kidnapping hadn't been a kidnapping at all. It had been consensual; she was just as guilty as he was. Fear of the jury believing it was right on the money when they asked if they could charge Olivia with assaulting Lewis.

"Sergeant, here you go," Ken's words broke her reverie. She thanked him and then went about getting Elliot out of the dirty top and sneakers. Pulling off his shirt, she swallowed hard as the feelings she'd buried deep about him pushed their way to the surface. However, instead of finding that six pack, she knew used to hide under his shirt, she found a miniature beer gut beginning to form. He'd been drinking and not paying his bills so of course going to the gym was out of the question. Surprisingly, he didn't fight her as she put the clean shirt on – not an easy task in and of itself considering he wasn't helping either. She covered him with an extra blanket and took the vomit covered shirt and shoes and pitched them into a garbage can. Exiting the cribs, she called over a uniform and told him to watch the former Detective.

Just as she was about to check in on Noah, her phone rang. Quickly answering it she discovered Doctor Huang on the other end.

"Sam is not our guy," the doctor explained.

"Oh and why do you think that?" Olivia asked.

"He had a psychotic break six months ago. He's been mostly catatonic since then. The doctors have tried taking him off his medication but it makes him extremely violent. They're enrolling him in a study to see if another kind of medicine would be helpful," Huang said.

"What is the official diagnosis?" She wanted to know.

"Catatonic Depression as a symptom of his Schizophrenia. My guess is that lashing out with those crimes on his rap sheet was the start of his disease but then later something triggered a full blown break. The violence seems to be the result of paranoid delusions that someone is out to get him. Whoever this someone is, he believes them to be a giant and that the doctors and other personnel here work for the giant. It's really quite terrible considering how late the diagnosis came," Huang told her.

"So he's violent enough to lash out but he didn't kill our Warden. That leaves us nowhere," Olivia exhaled loudly.

"Sorry," the FBI agent said.

"We're missing something but I just don't know what," she admitted.

"Well we're heading back to the precinct. See you soon," with that the call ended and Olivia shook her head. What the heck was going on? How could their perp be that good at covering his tracks? Then her cell phone jingled indicating a text message. Looking at it, she saw it was from Nick.  _I've got a suspect. Check out Corrections Officer Benjamin Wyatt. Something is hinky about him._

"Rollins I need a deeper look at Benjamin Wyatt," Olivia ordered.

"Yes ma'am," the blonde nodded.


	14. Chapter 14

"Liv I just went into the cribs and…" Fin didn't get to finish as Olivia held up her hand in a gesture to silence him. He gave her a look but then took a seat across from her.

"It's a very long story Fin," she heaved a sigh.

"How long?" He wanted to know.

"Long enough that I don't want to talk about it here," she admitted.

"I can understand that but you need to share with someone. I know you wouldn't bring Noah in unless it was absolutely necessary but I also know that you've been ducking Brian. The desk sergeant asked if I knew if you were up here because every time she tried to get a hold of you, you didn't pick up the phone. The only reason he'd be going through the desk sergeant was if you weren't picking up your cell. I know it's none of my business but you know how our personal lives spill over into this job. Please tell me what is going on so I can help," he hoped he was getting through to her. The look on her face told him that she was tired and was close to telling him everything when there was a knock on the door.

"Sergeant, do you have a… Oh sorry. Didn't realize Fin was here," Amanda said.

"Not to worry, we were just finishing up. What do you have on Benjamin Wyatt?" Olivia asked.

"Well as I said before nothing major as far as complaints from the inmates but what's more interesting about him is his life outside the prison," Rollins explained, putting the file down in front of her superior officer.

"His parents own a farm not far out of Mount Kisco and his older brother is in the military. He had a sister that was killed in an accident on the farm…" Olivia paused and looked at the photo.

"That can't be right," she said.

"What?" Fin asked, borrowing the file her from to see what she was looking at.

"How in the…" he shook his head.

"The sister's name was Ellen and the reason for the accident in the report I pulled says she ran into the barn to save the cats after the barn had caught fire. By the time the fire company got there and put out the fire, there was nothing left but a pile of ash and burnt metal farm equipment. The fire was so hot that the window glass melted along with the metal tractor. They didn't even go looking for a body as they figured there would be nothing left. The investigation into the blaze didn't last very long since there wasn't much to go on. It was considered an accident and the family was left to grieve. Ellen was supposedly only eight years old. I had the guys down in forensics do an age progression just to be on the safe side. Now tell me something isn't rotten in the state of Denmark," Rollins said.

"Something is very rotten. How is someone who is supposed to be dead sitting in our secure wing at Bellevue?" Olivia wanted to know.

"I have no idea. I figure the best thing to do would be to get Wyatt's DNA and compare it with Ellen's just to be absolutely sure. The old Fire Chief, Robert Gilbane, moved down to just outside the city in White Plains when he retired to be closer to his family. I think we better go talk to him," Amanda suggested.

"I think that is a wonderful idea. Take Fin with you," Olivia said. The blonde nodded and headed back out of the office.

"Baby girl…" Fin started.

"I promise we'll talk later," she told him. He just nodded and headed out the door to catch up with his partner. Olivia sent a text to Nick, wondering just what made Nick think there was something off about Wyatt.

"So Elliot in the cribs…" Amanda said as she and Fin rode in the car up to visit the old Fire Chief of Mount Kisco.

"I know. I don't like it any more than you do but we have to trust Liv knows what she's doing," Fin said as he turned the car onto the freeway.

"Oh I trust her. I don't trust him. He leaves the department without so much as a text and now he's so wasted he couldn't spell his own name and she puts him in the cribs? Especially after that blowout you guys had…?" The question hung there.

"I know. I don't like it either. There must be something going on that we don't know about. If she wants to tell us, she will," Fin nodded.

"You're right. Just after Lewis, I worry," Amanda admitted.

"Worry about what?" He gave her a look.

"Look I'm not saying that her judgment is impaired or that she can't handle the job. She's not the same and she won't talk about it. Bottling stuff up isn't good for anybody," she told him.

"Yeah, I've told her that," he said as he made the next turn they needed. The rest of the ride was spent dodging traffic and making their way to the Fire Chief's home.

"Nice place," Rollins smiled slightly at the white two-story home with a picket fence that was like something out of a catalog. She was a little jealous in fact considering her own upbringing.

"He must have done something other than be a Fire Chief," Fin remarked as they walked up to the front door. Amanda rang the doorbell and they were soon greeted by an older gentleman who appeared to be in his late sixties.

"Good afternoon sir. I'm Detective Rollins; this is my partner Detective Tutuola. We're with the New York City Police Department. Can we have a few minutes of your time?" She asked showing her badge.

"City detectives looking for little old me? It has to be about that parking ticket right?" He asked.

"No sir. It's about a fire up in Mount Kisco some years ago out at the Wyatt farm," she explained.

"Oh. Well come on in then," he smiled slightly. They entered the home to find it was just as immaculate on the inside as on the out.

"Chief Gilbane…" Fin started as he offered them seats in the living room.

"Oh please call me Bob. No one has called me Chief in fifteen years," he chuckled.

"Yes sir," Rollins smiled as the older man ducked into the kitchen and returned with coffee and some cookies a few minutes later.

"Doctor says I shouldn't eat these but I like to keep them around for the grandkids. Now why did you want to talk about a fire that was a little over twenty years ago for in a county where you have no jurisdiction?" The man may have been off the job for a while but he was still smart as a whip.

"There has been an incident in the city that ties back to the Wyatt family and we don't want to drag anybody's name through the mud if an accident was really only an accident," Rollins admitted.

"Well first thing I can tell you is that, that fire was no accident. We had a little firebug running around Mount Kisco at the time and I suspected it was him. However given the extent of the damage and the death of little Ellen Wyatt, I soon had other ideas," Bob admitted.

"Why does the report not say that?" Fin wanted to know.

"Mostly because I didn't have any evidence of a crime. It was arson but considering how the barn went up and how hot things got, all of the traces of accelerant would have been tainted by the gasoline in the tractor that melted in there, if there was any left, and any and all pour patterns went into the ashes. I tried to investigate more but with no leads I was forced to admit it was a horrible tragedy. You know when they caught the fire bug they tried to pin her death on him, as a scare tactic, but he refused to admit he had any part in it. Admitted to setting a bunch of other fires but never admitted to Ellen's death or the fire that caused it," Bob explained.

"Who do you think set it?" Rollins asked.

"I had my suspicions about the middle child, Ben. He had some nasty burns on him, claimed he tried to go and get his sister but then his brother pulled him out before the tractor tank exploded. He spent a long time in the hospital and his grief seemed genuine. So all I had was sneaking suspicions," the Fire Chief said.

"Ellen's disability, how much did it weigh on the family? It couldn't have been easy since she couldn't really help on the farm," Rollins was curious.

"They loved her just as they would any child but it was a burden. They didn't have the money to get her those cochlear implants and the kids at school were brutal to her. One thing that I did notice and you'll have to forgive me for saying so, but after the fire was ruled an accident, and the insurance paid the money out, things got better on the farm. With only two kids to pay for and the new tractor which was quite the upgrade from the last one, the farm became profitable again," Bob heaved a sigh.

"So maybe the family set fire to it and Ellen got in the way?" Fin raised an eyebrow.

"Heck of a coincidence if you ask me," Bob shook his head. Rollins took a sip of coffee and tried to piece the information together. Older brother with burns, younger, disabled sister, supposedly dead, yet here they had an Ellen in the hospital with the same disability and a photo when age progressed, looked like the Ellen that was in the hospital.

As they exited the house after thanking the former Fire Chief for his help, Rollins turned to her partner and said,

"We need to know how much money they really got from the insurance."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Fin asked.

"Yeah, they sold Ellen and used the fire to cover it up," Rollins told him.


	15. Chapter 15

Nick sat in what once was Warden Drysdale's office. He had told Olivia the reason he was suspicious of Wyatt was because he wore long sleeves which made him stand out against the remainder of the short-sleeved crew. Then as he shook hands with everyone, officially getting a sense of them, he noted that the guard's hands were scarred and that the scars travelled up underneath the sleeves of the shirt.

Now with the information that Rollins had passed on about the fire and what their thoughts were while waiting for the insurance company to respond, he grew angry. How could someone do that to their child? Did the father send Ben into burn the barn down so they could get the insurance money and not tell him that his baby sister was in there? Did Ben start the fire on his own, his natural curiosity about it getting the best of him while Dad was doing business in there? No matter how he sliced it, I looked like Ben had something to do with it unless the only reason he tried to go in there was to save his sister. It would have been the easier lie to tell the kids. Neither boys would question their sister's death because Mom and Dad must have known whoever was taking her wasn't ever going to bring her back.

Both sons ended up in civil service, one serving in the Army, while the younger one picked a job in the corrections department. Was it guilt that drove them to join up? Or were they just good kids trying to get as far away from farm life as they could? Liv had ordered him to stand down until they had more information. She didn't want to blow his cover just yet. Fin was busy checking EZ-Pass and the bridges to see if they could pin Ben in the city the night his possible sister was sent to the prison where he worked. It was actually clever of him sending her there where he could watch over her and while she'd get care from the facility until he could figure out how to smuggle her back out. Nick knew that despite what Ben might have done, he would not have been the one to abuse Ellen. If he had, he certainly wouldn't have stayed in a town where someone might be able to ID her. That thought slipped through his head and then he had a sudden thought. He grabbed his cell and texted,

" _What if Ben Wyatt killed Warden Drysdale because he figured out whom his new prisoner looked like?"_

Olivia scooped her phone out of her pocket and read the message from Nick. Her heart sunk. Had the Warden had a sneaking suspicion and then confronted Ben after they left? Or did paranoia reign and Ben killed the Warden, fearful for his parents? These thoughts buzzed around in her head while she left a napping Noah in her office so she could speak to her team.

" _Speak to Rachel March. She might know more about Ben Wyatt and the Warden's relationship since she is a trustee."_  She sent back.

" _You got it."_  Nick responded. With that taken care of, she turned to Rollins who was waving a fax in her hand.

"Guess how much the insurance company gave the Wyatt's once it was determined they had a legitimate claim?" She asked.

"How much?" Fin played along.

"Half a million dollars. That was a lot of money back then," Amanda said.

"It's a lot now if you don't have to buy new farm equipment. Get the forensic accountant to give us what they could have bought with that kind of money back then," Olivia instructed.

"On it," she nodded before grabbing her coat and heading out of the door. With it just the two of them, Fin turned to Olivia.

"All right, what is going on and what do you intend to do with sleeping beauty?" He wanted to know.

"Right now all I can say is that if I tell you, you have to promise not to say anything to anyone. Can I trust you to do that?" Her voice seemed small and not at all like the Olivia Benson he used to know before William Lewis came along.

"You know I can keep a secret baby girl. You shouldn't even have to ask," Fin tried to hide the hurt in his voice. Something more had happened to her and he was angry at himself for not noticing sooner. Olivia motioned him into her office and shut the door. She sat down on the couch and he sat next to her.

"I'm not going to think any less of you no matter what you say to me. You know that right? We've been at this for a long time and there isn't one person I trust more than you. We're like family," he said. She swallowed hard and then told him everything.


	16. Chapter 16

"Warden Gonzalez, I have trustee Rachel March for you," his secretary, a Mrs. Flavisham, said over the little announcer panel. He almost didn't respond having heard his undercover name and he attempted to recover by responding in a level tone,

"Please send her in." The door to his office opened and Rachel entered being escorted by Guard Ricky Simons.

"Thanks Ricky. Can you close the door on the way out?" Nick asked.

"Sir, it's against procedure…" Ricky started.

"She's a trustee about to get out in almost two months. I think I can handle anything that pops up. It's only for five minutes. You telling me that Warden Drysdale did everything by the book?" Nick gave him a look.

"I'll be right outside sir," Ricky nodded, no longer arguing.

"I heard about the Warden. He was a good man," Rachel said.

"I'm sure he was. I'm also sure that he didn't deserve what he got. However, the reason I wanted to speak to you alone was this, do you know anything about Guard Ben Wyatt? How does he get along with everybody?" Nick asked.

"He's a quiet one. Not the guy you call in if there's a fight. He always wears long sleeves even if it's ninety out. Couldn't you ask one of his buddies or him about this?" Rachel was curious.

"Not exactly. Detective Benson thought you would be of excellent help. The last thing I need is the other guards getting gossipy about me asking questions," he told her.

"Do you know Detective Benson?" The inmate wanted to know.

"She and I go way back which is why she knew that you were here when I told her about my new job," Nick said.

"Well good luck with this job. As you said, I won't be here long enough to enjoy your command," she smiled slightly.

"Thanks but I have one more question for you. What was the relationship with Warden Drysdale and Guard Wyatt?" He inquired.

"I thought it was a good one but they got into a fight not long before the Warden…" Rachel paused.

"What?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Right before we found out the Warden had been murdered. You think he did it, don't you?" She questioned.

"Things to worry about in my new position. Do me a favor and keep an eye on him for me? Anything weird, you let me know? I'll put a good word in for you with your parole officer," Nick offered.

"You can count on it," she nodded and Nick nodded back before calling to Ricky.

"Thanks for bringing her," Nick said as he watched Ricky walk away. He then returned to his office and quickly sent a message to Olivia.

"Baby girl…" Fin had so many questions and he wanted to ask them but he was unsure if that was such a great idea. Olivia's phone jingled and she scooped it up.

"Nick says that Wyatt and the Warden got into a fight a few days before the Warden ended up dead. I think it's time we contacted the family," she said.

"How without overstepping our bounds?" Fin asked.

"I'm afraid we don't have much of a choice. These cases are inextricably linked," Olivia pointed out.

"Isn't there a way to get Wyatt's DNA to confirm that he's Ellen brother before we do that? I mean if this is not in fact their Ellen we could be getting ourselves into major trouble," he told her.

"I'll put a call into Chief Muldrew. Maybe he can get Wyatt's DNA through back channels," Olivia said. Fin nodded and was about to say something else when Rollins knocked on the door.

"Sergeant, put on Channel Five," she said. Olivia grabbed the remote on her desk and turned on the television.

"State Police have been called in to investigate the death of Prison Warden Jim Drysdale. Drysdale was the Warden at Taconic Correctional and was found beaten to death in his Mount Kisco home a few days ago. The Mount Kisco Police Department is currently under investigation after the FBI discovered that Police Chief Jonathan Dru was taking kickbacks from the Regetti Crime Family. We will continue to follow this story as it develops. Back to you Steve," the reporter explained.

"Whoa," Fin shook his head.

"I'm putting a call into the State Police. We need to talk," Olivia said. She was about to pick up her desk phone when the officer who had been watching Elliot knocked on the door frame.

"Ma'am, the guy in the cribs is awake. Can I get him some Gatorade or something?"

"Yes, get some and when I get off the phone send him in here. We need to talk," Olivia heaved a sigh.

"Yes ma'am," the officer nodded and took off for the vending machines. Benson was about to shoo Fin and Rollins out of her office when Noah woke up from his afternoon nap. His sleeping schedule was off and he was cranky as he let loose a scream.

"I've got him. You take care of business," Fin smirked as he grabbed the child, in an effort to quiet him down, and Rollins grabbed his stroller.

"Thanks," Olivia smiled slightly and then made her phone call.


	17. Chapter 17

Meanwhile, at Taconic, some of the inmates and a good portion of the guards were curious as to why the Warden wanted to meet with Rachel. She fed them a line about how she would be his first parolee and he wanted to know if she needed anything for when she got out. The story seemed to satisfy everyone, showing them that their new Warden actually gave a damn. Rachel did make a mental note that Wyatt seemed to be avoiding her. Her own suspicion aroused, she turned to the closest guard that was on duty out in the yard and asked what the scoop was with the quiet guard.

"He's been weirder than usual but as per usual I can't get anything out of him," Guard Sally Hill admitted.

"Yeah. I worry about him sometimes," Rachel shook her head, trying to make it sound like she cared for him. To be perfectly honest, he gave her the creeps.

"Worry in what way? He hasn't tried anything has he?" Sally asked her. It was an odd tack to take but Rachel figured she should use it to her advantage.

"He hasn't tried anything with anybody far as I know but this summer was unusually hot and he still wore those long sleeves. Makes me wonder what he's got underneath them. Course it also makes me wonder why he doesn't seem to look anybody straight in the eyes either," the inmate said.

"While I can't answer the first one, I can guess on the second. Ricky said that he and Warden Drysdale were close. Maybe his death is hitting a little harder for Wyatt," Sally shrugged.

"Maybe," Rachel nodded. It seemed that Ricky was the man to go to on this one and while Sally hadn't provided much information she had given her a little insight to ponder. Just then Sally's radio crackled to life.

"We've got lightening rolling in from the West. Better get everyone inside. We could be in for an ugly one," a voice that Rachel noted was Guard Cheryl Duncan's.

"Oh geez," Sally commented as thunder boomed in the distance. The inmates in the yard didn't need any encouragement to head inside and quickly lined up.

"So much for getting some fresh air," inmate Brittany Phillips sighed.

"Maybe tomorrow," Rachel gave her a smile as they moved toward the inside of the building.

"I hope so. Not too many days left to work on my tan," Brittany chuckled.

"My farmer's tan is never going away," Rachel laughed with her. They were so engaged in moving inside and talking to one another that they heard the shout from Guard Sally a moment too late. Rachel turned her head just in time for Wyatt's baton to come down squarely on her neck. She collapsed and Brittany and a few of the other girls took offense to the guard's actions considering they weren't warranted. They started throwing punches and attempting to get at Wyatt. The rain began to fall and some of the guards rushed in. Ricky radioed for medical and backup and Nick was alerted to the situation. The scuffle was over almost as quickly as it had started due to the weather and the guards overwhelming those that had not already run inside.

"What the hell happened?" Nick asked as the last of the guards and inmates were moved inside and out of the weather.

"Wyatt struck the trustee. I saw no reason for him to," Sally spoke up as the medical staff took Rachel out of her arms and immediately began checking her over.

"I want Wyatt in my office now. Those that were in the brawl I want down at the infirmary. We're going to sort his out," Nick was not in a good mood and he let his displeasure be known as Ricky and another guard by the name of Sam hauled Wyatt down to the Warden's office. Nick quickly sent a text to Olivia that he thought it was time to blow his cover and then shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Olivia received the message but did not bother to look at it. Right now, a partially sober, mostly hung over, Elliot, was sitting across from her at her desk. They'd been sitting there for twenty minutes, neither one knowing where to start.

"Why didn't you call me to talk to me? Why did you just run away?" She finally asked.

"Because I knew that I couldn't hear your voice without breaking down. I shot a girl. She was a victim and I shot her," Elliot said.

"She killed Sister Peg. She was shooting at everybody. Someone had to stop her before she killed anyone else," Olivia told him.

"The only person in the room I was worried about was you," he admitted.

"I was worried about you too," she said.

"It was Gitano all over again and I didn't care about anybody else. I wasn't going to let you get hurt before I had a chance to tell you…" he stopped, knowing that what he was trying to say was certainly not how he imagined talking to her about this.

"Tell me what?" Olivia asked.

"Tell you that before I found out about Eli I was going to leave Kathy. We may have been in love once but after everything we'd been struggling to deal with, I knew that there was only one real reason that I couldn't look her in the eyes anymore. It was because she wasn't you. I know you're with Cassidy and I know that I have no expectation of anything but I love you Liv. I have for a very long time. It kills me that I wasn't there when you needed me," there he'd said it and he was surprised at how much better it made him feel. No matter how she responded, she now knew how he felt.

"It killed me too when I was forced to finally realize that you weren't coming for me. I was with Brian by then but all I kept thinking about was how someone would have called you and that you were desperately trying to find me. I thought I had moved on with Brian but the truth of the matter was; you never left my mind despite how angry I was at you. The fact of the matter right now is, is it doesn't matter how I feel as; I am struggling to cope with my own demons. I don't have room to deal with you being a drunk or with Brian figuring out that he can't handle Noah. Noah is basically all I have. I need to be there for him. He has no one else. I can't let him down," Olivia told him.

"Let me help you. I owe you at least that much," Elliot said.

"How can you help me when you can't help yourself?" She wanted to know.

"We can help each other. Even if all I ever do is help you through this and help you become the fantastic mother I know you can be, it will mean the world to me. The love I have for you isn't going to change; not now, not ever," he reached across the desk and took her hand in his. Tears were threatening to fall down her cheeks and Olivia did the best she could to hold them in. Here he was, once again offering to be the man she knew he could be and the man she needed and once again she didn't know what to do. Brian made it clear that they were in trouble and they needed to discuss things. However she had a felling which way that discussion was going to go and if she was forced to choose between Noah and Brian she would pick Noah.

"All right El. Promise me that you can be the man I know you can be. Promise me that you will stay with me through my nightmares and through Noah's diaper changes. Promise me," she was at the point of letting the tears go.

"I promise. There is nothing else in the world that I would rather do than to prove to you that I can be the man I once was," he nodded.

"Good. Now I need to take care of the case. Are you still living in your storage unit?" She asked.

"Yeah I am but I've been looking for a job and a place of my own. I've been getting by with the help of the owner of the storage facility. In exchange for doing security for him, he lets me stay in my temperature controlled unit and use the office restroom," he said.

"That will have to do for now. I still need to talk with Brian, I've been avoiding him…" she didn't get to finish as she saw Brain walking into the squad room. Swallowing hard, she stood and told Elliot to sit tight. They were in the middle of the case and she really didn't have time for this but it seemed she didn't have much of a choice.


	18. Chapter 18

"Before you guys get into anything, there's been an incident at the prison and Nick had to call in the State Police and Corrections Internal Affairs. Wyatt just beat up one of the inmates and they removed him from duty. He's requesting backup on our end," Fin spoke up as Olivia left her office.

"Which inmate was injured?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Rachel March. Seems Wyatt just beat her with his baton with no provocation," Fin shrugged.

"Fin hold down the fort. Rollins with me. We need to get up there quickly," Olivia said. Brian turned to her and wanted to know,

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"Things have been a little crazy around here. We'll talk later," she said as she and Rollins continued out the door. Elliot saw that she was leaving and quickly picked up his things. He needed to get back to the storage unit and report for his job. He still had Olivia's number and they could talk later.

"Stabler?" Brian's confusion was evident as the former detective emerged from the office, especially since he seemed to be wearing borrowed shoes and a shirt as they did not match his pants at all.

"Just dropped by and I'm on my way out," Elliot said, knowing that a confrontation was not in his best interest right now.

"So that's why she didn't answer her phone. What the hell are you doing here?" Brian wanted to know.

"Can't stop by and catch up with my old partner? Afraid of something Cassidy?" Elliot asked; so much for not having a confrontation.

"Yeah he's afraid Liv will dump his sorry ass and head for you, although I have to admit she has no accounting for taste in either one of you," Fin spoke up and the two of them turned and looked at him.

"Don't give me that look. She doesn't need this shit right now from either one of you. So both of you pull up your little panties and do what's best for baby girl before I make the decision for her. I can guarantee you won't like what I have to say either," Fin stood up from his seat and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You have no idea what's best for her," Brian spat.

"Oh I know that the only thing keeping her together right now is little Noah. You certainly aren't helping," Fin looked at Brian before turning to Elliot.

"Don't even get me started Stabler. You and I always had our differences but the minute you decided to not call Liv back and at the very least give her an explanation, especially since out of everyone, she was the one that deserved one, we were done. Munch and I did our best to pick up the pieces no matter how hard she proclaimed she was ok. SVU is the only family she had before Noah and it'll still be her family after she figures out what to do with you two idiots. Now get out of here before I call for some unis to escort you out," Tutuola put his foot down.

"You guys sent her home after you knew what state she was in! This is not all on me!" Brian argued.

"Says the man who kept conveniently working doubles and cancelling plans. She wouldn't have been alone in the first place. Now get out!" Fin ordered. Brian just rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering under his breath. Noah started to wail and Fin turned his attention to the little guy quieting him down. Elliot marveled at the man who often showed his tough gangster side being so gentle with the tyke and making little noises to make the toddler giggle.

"Think of me what you want but thanks for looking out for Liv. I know she may not come out and say it but she does appreciate it. I know she puts up a brave face and she hardly lets anyone in but she does appreciate that you care," Elliot spoke up before heading toward the door.

"If you break her heart again, I'll kill you, you know that right?" Fin asked without looking up.

"I will step in front of the bullet," Elliot nodded with a slight smile. Fin looked up and gave him a nod before turning his attention back to Noah.

Meanwhile, Olivia and Amanda were riding in a very uncomfortable silence as the elder detective moved the car in and out of lanes down the highway, the siren on full blast.

"Why would Wyatt hurt Rachel? What does that do for him?" Amanda finally spoke up, hoping that talking the case instead of talking about the mess they undoubtedly left at the precinct.

"It doesn't except get him into trouble. My guess is that his anger caused him to lose control. It's probably why the Warden was found with his head bashed in. If we're right and Ellen is in fact his sister and his parents did in fact sell their daughter to someone that could drive someone over the edge. Bare minimum, he thought his sister was dead and she's not. Either way that is a lot of mental strain. Perhaps the guy, who decided he was done with her, sent her to Taconic knowing full well her brother worked there. After all, we've been spending more time on trying to figure out Wyatt's connection then the man in the surveillance video because the fingerprints on the paperwork weren't in the system and he hid his face," Olivia postulated.

"You think the State Police will help us out?" Rollins wondered.

"Sergeant McMillan from Troop K, that handles Westchester County, promised me they'd keep our investigation on a need to know basis so as to avoid Federal issues. It's bad enough that we were right about there being a problem in the Mount Kisco Police now they don't want an incident with the Department of Corrections up there too. Although this little stunt by Wyatt will force the hand of Internal Affairs and they need to investigate everything. What started out as an odd case has now dragged three different agencies in on it. Too many chances for something to get lost between the cracks," Olivia shook her head and took their exit. They soon pulled up to the prison gate where the guard recognized them from earlier.

"Sergeant Benson, Detective Rollins. What brings you back?" He asked.

"I got a call from Warden Gonzalez. He says one of the inmates who was helping on a case of ours was injured," Olivia said.

"The State Police are already here as well as Internal Affairs. Good luck," he nodded and let them through. They quickly parked and exited the car as the rain continued to pour down from the heavens. Rollins wished she'd worn her mukluks instead of her dress shoes as they entered the building and were immediately stopped at the door by a trooper.

"Sergeant Olivia Benson and Detective Amanda Rollins, NYPD. I need to speak to Warden Gonzalez," she said flashing her badge while Rollins did the same.

"You don't have…" he started but was cut off by his radio. The voice on the other end told him to let them into the building and escort them down to the Warden's office. He quickly apologized and then took them down to the office. There they found Nick speaking to a Sergeant in the State Police who quickly introduced himself as Sean McMillan. There was also a Corrections Internal Affairs officer who introduced himself as Stephen Ash.

"Ladies, I understand that Warden Gonzalez is actually Detective Nick Amaro, NYPD. Just when were you going to inform Internal Affairs of this little undercover op?" Ash wondered after McMillan shut the office door.

"When we had something solid," Olivia said before quickly laying out what they had and what she had explained to the State Police Sergeant.

"So you think Wyatt may have killed Warden Drysdale? He almost killed Miss March. We had her taken to Northern Westchester Hospital. She was knocked unconscious and we're not sure how badly her neck was injured. We're hoping it's not anything severe with the spinal cord. The doctors promised to call us as soon as they had something," Ash explained.

"What are your plans for Wyatt? Can we get his DNA to find out if our victim is in fact his sister?" Olivia wanted to know.

"You can have his DNA and you can follow Sergeant McMillan out to his parents' house. As far as the Department of Corrections is concerned, Benjamin Wyatt is now in the hands of the State Police as a suspect in the murder of Warden Drysdale and the attempted murder of inmate Rachel March. Any on the job penalties will come after the outcome of the investigation and trial. I think we should leave Detective Amaro in as acting Warden until this whole mess is sorted out. He may be able to aid in our investigation," Ash said.

"Sounds like a deal. Thank you gentlemen," Olivia shook their hands.

"Well shall we pay the Wyatt's a visit?" Sergeant McMillan wondered.

"Oh yes we should," Olivia nodded.


	19. Chapter 19

Olivia checked her phone as Rollins pulled the sedan up behind Sergeant McMillan's patrol vehicle outside the Wyatt farmhouse. The two-story home looked like it needed some work. The paint was peeling off the siding and the roof was missing some shingles. Luckily the rain had subsided but Rollins wondered how dry things were on the inside of the home. She'd seen homes like this back in Atlanta. At one time they were very beautiful but now they were slowly rotting back into the ground. Their car was in much the same condition. Late model sedan that probably had nothing but Bondo ® and spit holding it together. She couldn't even decide if rust was the paint color or if the flecks of brown that dotted the vehicle were paint. Sergeant McMillan's knock on the front door, broke her from her thoughts, especially when the door swung open freely. Without a word, the three pulled out their service weapons. The Sergeant instructed them to cover his six as he entered the home.

The living room seemed intact, in fact it looked immaculate. This was cause for the group to pause, unsure of how to proceed but the Sergeant then decided they had better announce themselves, in case the home owners had just forgotten to latch it properly.

"Mr. Wyatt? Mrs. Wyatt? I'm Sergeant McMillan with the State Police. Are you home?" He wanted to know. When they got no response, Rollins indicated she was heading upstairs. Olivia headed for the kitchen and the Sergeant swept the rest of the floor.

"Up here!" Rollins holstered her weapon and called out from upstairs after hearing Olivia announce the all clear in the kitchen. McMillan came back announcing the portion he checked was clear as well.

"What'd you find Rollins?" Olivia asked as she charged toward the younger detective.

"This door is locked and by the looks of it, it's been that way for a while," Amanda said. The metal doorknob had rusted and the two women looked at once another.

"I can kick it down," McMillan said as he approached them from behind.

"The Wyatt's could be in there," Olivia nodded and the Trooper used his large boot to kick the door. The lock didn't break but the door had been soft and his foot went right through it. He backed up and then reached inside to unlock the door.

"Whoa," he murmured as he opened the door. Cobwebs of all shapes and sizes covered everything in the room. The dust was so thick that it barely moved as the door swung open.

"Ok now I'm confused," Rollins said as she realized just whose room it had been. The walls had horses painted on them and the bedspread appeared to be a very faded bright pink.

"So am I," Olivia's voice was barely above a whisper as she nodded and moved toward the dresser. There was a little jewelry box and ballerina slippers along with a picture of a little girl and what had to have been her horse. The picture looked as though it was old as the dust and cobwebs.

"Who sells their kid and then keeps every last item they owned locked in a room for twenty some odd years?" The Trooper asked.

"They don't. I've seen this happen before but only after the child died in an accident or was murdered. If you sold your kid then you would throw out all of this stuff. You would repurpose the room. You would do everything you could to get rid of the memories. Something is very off," Olivia admitted.

"Well let's start with finding the Wyatt's. They definitely have some explaining to do," McMillan shook his head.

"Agreed. Where's the root cellar?" Olivia asked.

"Outside probably. A lot of these old homes are like that," he said.

"We better check there then. If they aren't there then we'd better call for back up. They could be anywhere inside the barn or out on the property," Olivia told them.

"I agree. Given their age, they could be out there injured," McMillan nodded and the three of them headed out of the room and back down the stairs.

"I hate to say it but what if the reason no one is answering us is because Ben took his anger out on his parents?" Rollins asked as they reached the kitchen and headed to the back door.

"Well let's pray that he didn't," McMillan suggested as he exited the back door. They quickly followed him and found a root cellar on the back of the house. The doors were not padlocked and once again they found themselves drawing their weapons.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt, this is Sergeant McMillan with the State Police," he announced as he headed down into the underground storage compartment. Olivia and Amanda followed him and they soon discovered the Wyatt's had been down in the cellar the whole time.

"Goodness gracious! What is going on?" Mrs. Wyatt asked as the police officers holstered their weapons. She was in the middle of canning something and Mr. Wyatt was helping her. They were in their early sixties and still looked good for their age.

"We need to speak to you and your husband and we owe you a door," the Trooper said.

"What about officer?" Mr. Wyatt wanted to know.

"It's a rather long discussion I'm afraid. Can we go into the house?" The Sergeant asked.

"Yes I guess so. A little coffee would warm these old bones," Mr. Wyatt gave him a slight smile. The group headed back inside and took seats at the kitchen table while Mrs. Wyatt prepared the coffee.

"You should really think about fixing that lock on the front door. It didn't even hold the door shut when we knocked," McMillan smiled slightly.

"We've been meaning to do that but then one thing leads to another and we just don't have the money. We haven't been a full working farm in a long time," Mr. Wyatt admitted.

"Which door did you owe us and who are these charming young ladies?" Mrs. Wyatt asked as she brought some sugar and milk to the table.

"I'm Sergeant Olivia Benson with the NYPD and this is my partner Detective Amanda Rollins. The door we owe you is the one into your daughter's room. We're sorry but we thought you might have been in there," Olivia admitted.

"No one has been in there since Ellen passed away," Mrs. Wyatt's shoulders dropped.

"We are sorry to bring up Ellen, Mrs. Wyatt but the reason we're here with Sergeant McMillan is that your son Ben has gotten himself into some trouble," Rollins spoke up.

"Is he all right?" Mr. Wyatt asked.

"I'm very sorry but he beat an inmate today and he's down at the Mount Kisco police station. We suspect him in the murder of Warden Drysdale as well," Sergeant McMillan told them.

"Good God," Mrs. Wyatt turned pale and Rollins grabbed her and helped her into a chair.

"Why do you suspect him?" Mr. Wyatt wanted to know.

"He got into a fight with the Warden a few days before the Warden died and he beat the trustee who is about to get paroled. We believe they are connected which regrettably puts your son into the middle of it. Can you tell us how he's been? Anything seem unusual?" Olivia asked.

"Our daughter's birthday was a few days ago. He never handles it well," Mrs. Wyatt admitted.

"Can you tell us what happened to Ellen?" Rollins pressed. Mr. Wyatt recounted the tale from his own perspective and it matched what the old Fire Chief had said. Olivia was beginning to wonder if the couple had anything to do with their daughter's possible disappearance. Her pocket buzzed and she quickly ignored it by pressing the button on her phone. It buzzed again and she knew she couldn't ignore it. Quickly she excused herself and headed into the other room.

"Benson," she answered her phone.

"It's Fin. The financial results are in. If the Wyatt's got any money from selling their daughter, they hid it pretty well. There doesn't seem to be any items that they spent money on over what they got from the insurance," he said.

"Things at the house confirm it for me. We're looking for someone who kidnapped her and then covered his tracks with the fire. I'll see if I can get a list of farmhands from them," she told him.

"Good call. State Police told Nick that they'd have the results of the DNA back by tomorrow," he explained.

"All right. We'll see you tonight," Olivia said. The call ended and she headed back out into the kitchen.

"Can we get a list of farm hands that have worked on the farm and may have come in contact with Ben or Ellen?" She wondered after a break in the conversation about what was going on with Ben.

"Of course. I kept the records in case we needed them for tax purposes," Mr. Wyatt stood and headed off to get the paperwork.

"Can we see Ben?" Mrs. Wyatt asked.

"I can bring you down to the station. He's going to need a lawyer," Sergeant McMillan said.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Wyatt was very upset. Her husband returned a few moments later with a few manila envelopes.

"Here's everything I have. We had to let everyone go about ten years ago. The money was drying up and the farm was too hard to run without Ben and his older brother, Peter," he admitted.

"That's great. Thank you," Olivia smiled slightly.

"Why don't you ladies head back to the city and I'll get them to see their son. Give me a shout when you get in," the Sergeant winked. Olivia knew what he meant. Give him a shout when they had narrowed down the field of suspects. With that the little gathering broke up and the two headed back to see if the files would lead them anywhere.


	20. Chapter 20

The morning found Olivia sleeping on the couch in her office. Noah had fallen asleep comfortably on her chest. He was a little big for that but she felt like he didn't deserve to spend the night in the stroller after spending a good portion of the day there. She couldn't go back to the apartment either as she still needed to have that conversation with Brian. The simple fact of the matter was that if he couldn't handle Noah then she couldn't handle being together. The judge had given her the opportunity to be a mother and to save the poor baby she'd grown attached to over the course of his switching foster homes. She couldn't see him spending his life that way despite the fact that it might have been better than the way she'd spent hers. It wasn't that she hadn't loved her mother but the abuse and alcohol-fuelled behavior had turned them against each other. Of course there was the fact that she was the product of her mother's assault which was never far from either her or her mother's mind.

Either way if Brian truly loved her, he would understand why she had to help Noah. He would have known how much she wanted her own family. However they had been moving apart even before Noah's arrival when she flunked the pregnancy test. She had actually been disappointed but it was obvious that Brian was not.

"Liv? Wake up baby girl. We got something," Fin said as he gently shook her awake.

"What time is it?" She asked quietly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes before gently scooping up the toddler that was lying with her. Olivia carefully moved into the sitting position before realizing that somehow Noah's playpen was in her office. She gave Fin a look and he said,

"Rollins and I went to your place last night before Brian left for his shift. Figured the little guy would have more fun in the playpen until you could get him home for a bath."

"That was very nice of you. How did Brian take it? Did he let you in?" Olivia was suddenly wondering how Fin managed to do it. She knew that Brian and Fin had never really seen eye to eye.

"Rollins ran interference. Told him we just wanted the playpen and some more diapers. Grabbed what we wanted and then bolted. I know it's none of my business but you have to go home sometime," he said.

"I know but right now we have a victim who is still not properly identified and a crazy person on the loose. Brian will have to be a big boy," she told him. Her phone buzzed on her desk and Fin grabbed it while she put a still sleeping Noah into the playpen. She looked at her watch and noted that it was only seven am.

"You have a text from Brian. I'm going to get a fresh pot of motor oil going on the coffee pot," he said before ducking out of the room. Olivia heaved a sigh and read it.  _We need to talk. No more avoiding each other._  She quickly replied;  _Meet me for lunch at the deli by the precinct_. His answer was back quickly,  _ok_. Placing the phone down, she knew what she had to do.

Exiting her office she bumped into Rollins exiting the cribs. The blonde mumbled "Hello" before grabbing a cup of coffee. Her eyes perked up at the hot liquid when she sipped a little.

"Fin what did you put in here?" She asked.

"The last of the good stuff. Enjoy," he chuckled.

"It almost tastes like Munch's coffee," Rollins practically gagged but she was awake.

"I'm with her. "The good stuff" must have been stale or something," Olivia practically gagged too, her stomach wanted something a little more solid for breakfast and that's when she noted the baby food that was sitting on Rollins' desk.

"New diet?" Olivia asked.

"I didn't know what Noah liked so I just grabbed a bunch from your place," the blonde confessed.

"Thank you for doing that," Olivia smiled slightly and Rollins had to admit that the senior detective hadn't done that too much lately.

"So you want to know what the background checks found?" Fin asked.

"Of course. What have we got?" The Sergeant inquired.

"All right. There were twenty names in the file and so far only a handful of names have popped up," he explained pulling the names and associated photos up on the electronic boards.

"Do I want to know why they popped up?" Rollins asked.

"Herman Gonzalez's prints are in the system for shoplifting. Stefan Ramirez got popped for aggravated assault and was shipped back to Guatemala when they found out his work visa had expired. Robert Pulaski spent a nickel in Fishkill after being an accomplice to an armed robbery. Don Gottfried left farm work and his prints are in the system because he works for a cleaning crew that cleans the Mount Kisco Police Department buildings. Last but not least, my favorite candidate, and my guess is that the Wyatt's had no idea, Darren Bozzard. He was convicted of sexual assault and kidnapping of his girlfriend in the great state of Pennsylvania. He was working for the Wyatt's before he did that but perhaps Ellen Wyatt was his first foray into the criminal underbelly," Fin explained.

"He's registered as a sex offender right?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Yup but his parole ran out a while ago so I imagine I don't have the most up to date address. He probably skipped out of Pennsylvania and changed his name. Easiest way to blend in and do jobs that would give him access to women but wouldn't require a background check," he said.

"Hunt him down. I also want any information you can get on Don Gottfried. They could have been working together on this to get the proper paperwork and to know who I am," Olivia ordered.

"On it," Fin nodded. Rollins offered to take the maintenance man while Fin worked on finding Darren. Olivia was about to head back into her office and place a call to Mrs. Schumacher to see if she could babysit when her cell phone rang. Answering it, she discovered that Sergeant McMillan was on the other end.

"Good Morning Sergeant Benson. The DNA results are in and I thought you'd want to know first thing. Hope I'm not disturbing you," he said.

"Good morning and no, the team and I just got a couple of leads into who may have kidnapped Ellen. What did you find?" She asked.

"You were right. The patient you have in the hospital is related to Benjamin Wyatt. I intend to tell his parents and Ben later this morning. Did you want in on that?" McMillan wondered.

"I regrettably need to stay here. If we have a solid lead on a couple of suspects, the quicker we bring them in the better," Olivia admitted.

"I completely understand. When the parents ask if they can see Ellen, what should I say?" He wanted to know.

"Tell them that I can better explain what happened. Would you mind having someone escort them down to the city? They shouldn't be driving when they find out that their daughter is alive. I can take them from there once they arrive at the precinct," she said.

"You got it. If I may say so, I don't know how you do it. I'm not sure I could control myself when you tell them what was done to her," the Trooper confessed.

"It's not easy but the only way people heal is by knowing the truth and dealing with it. I'm going to have Detective Rollins send you photos of the two guys we're looking at and see if they recognize them from around town. We don't have permanent address on one of them but Ben might be able to give us some information," Olivia told him.

"All right sounds like a plan. Thanks," with that the call ended and then Olivia quickly got on the phone with her neighbor.


	21. Chapter 21

The rest of the morning passed quickly and Olivia managed to get back to the apartment, take a shower, hand Noah off to Mrs. Schumacher, and then get back to the deli. She had promised that she would get back to her neighbor right after lunch and the elderly woman smiled and promised to give the little tyke a bath.

"Sergeant Benson, it's so good to see you again. How are things?" The owner of the deli, Salvatore Idoni, came over to the table she had picked for her meeting with Brian.

"A little crazy Sal. How about you guys? Looks like a good crowd today," she smiled.

"Meatball Sub day is always a busy day," he winked.

"Sounds delicious," Olivia smiled again.

"One for you and one for Brian?" Sal asked.

"Excellent idea but I'm not sure how much eating we'll be doing…" the sentence died in her throat and the kindly older gentlemen gave a tight smile.

"Trouble in paradise?" He'd known Olivia ever since Elliot had left. She had stopped going to the diner that he and she usually went to because of the memories. What she needed at the time was a clean slate and Sal's deli offered that and very good food. Olivia never got to answer the question as Brian approached them. Sal gave him a look and then nodded. He knew exactly was going to happen. Ducking behind the counter, he started making fresh subs for the two.

"Liv, we need to talk about what we've been doing these last few days. It's not healthy for us," Brian said after he took a seat.

"I agree but it seems that we don't want the same things. There is nothing we can negotiate about or promise to work on. Noah is not going back into foster care. I can't and won't let that happen. He has no one. I wanted us to be a family but I should have known that wasn't going to work," Olivia told him.

"We can make it work. I was just getting overwhelmed. I didn't handle it well," he admitted.

"Just like you didn't handle the failed pregnancy test. You don't want kids, I get it. I have wanted children for a very long time. I was never in a position to have any until now. I realize that Noah was a bit of a shock and I apologize for that but when the judge asked me to take him and give him the home I know he deserves I couldn't say "no". I guess this means that we can't be together anymore. You can take the stuff your parents gave us back. I'm sure they'll want it," she said.

"I don't want this to be over. Not like this," Brian said.

"We're not interested in the same things, Bri. We barely spend any time together and you deserve someone who can be there for you and not have the extra baggage. You've been sweet through everything but I can't force you to be the man that I need any more than you can force me to be the woman you need. Let's not argue and fuss. I knew we were moving apart before and now it's blatantly obvious that we just aren't meant to be. I am truly sorry, I am but I know that you'll be happier with someone else," Olivia put her foot down. The relationship was over.

"It's because Stabler is back in the picture isn't it?" Brian asked, she could tell that he was getting angry.

"No it's not. Elliot is in no shape for anything more than what he needs to get himself back on track and neither am I. Besides after how our partnership ended I'm not sure I can even let him too far into my life," Olivia shook her head. As much as she had always had a connection with Elliot that she wished he returned (and on more than one occasion, she felt he'd proven it), neither one of them was in any condition for anything. He needed to get sober and stay that way and she needed to conquer the fears that William Lewis had been so kind to leave behind after his death.

Brian didn't seem satisfied and he seemed like he was going to yell or get upset but then he heaved a sigh and shook his head.

"I'll get my stuff out of the apartment and…" he started.

"Fin has offered Noah and I some space at his place for the next few days. Take your time; find a nice place to live," she said. Brian couldn't believe how nice she was being about things.

"I'll call around and I'll talk to my folks. I think they realize that they aren't getting any grandbabies so they might let you keep some of the things," he said.

"I'll make it work, whatever they decide," she gave him a slight smile. He nodded, stood up, and walked out. Olivia heaved a sigh and tears threatened to fall. Despite it all, she didn't hate Brian but she couldn't force him to stay either. It wasn't fair. Her phone buzzed and she checked the message. It was Elliot.  _How's things?_  It was a simple message and one that she needed.  _Can we talk later?_  She replied.  _Of course. Where should we meet?_  He asked.  _The diner we used to go to around seven,_ she said.  _See you then,_ he replied. With that she stood up and headed for the counter. Sal handed her two meatball subs to go. When she attempted to pay, he refused. It was the offer of the day, he said, – free subs to active duty police officers. Olivia crammed a ten into the tip jar and left giving Sal her thanks and a smile.

An hour later, Sergeant McMillan walked into the precinct with Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt in tow. Rollins intercepted them and offered them something to drink. At the sound of the blonde's voice, Olivia perked up at her desk. Looking at the elderly couple she could tell that they were nervous and that the Trooper had left all the gory details for her to divulge. It was the way she wanted it and she just wished that she had a little more to go on.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt I know this has been a rough day but I'm afraid before you see your daughter I need to explain some things," Olivia offered them the seats in her office as Trooper McMillan shut the door and took a seat on the couch.

"Sergeant McMillan said you were brought in because someone tried to have Ellen transported to our son's prison," Mr. Wyatt said.

"Yes sir and we're looking into who that could be. The evidence suggests that one of your former farmhands might have been involved in the kidnapping of your daughter. We have two suspects which I believe the Sergeant showed you," Olivia started.

"Yes he did. I don't see how a good man like Don Gottfried got all mixed up in something like this. He was always one to be counted on. We never had to worry about him," Mr. Wyatt shook his head.

"What about Darren Bozzard?" Olivia asked.

"You had to wonder about him. I fired him not long before the barn fire. Caught him stealing food that was supposed to be sent to the market. You don't think he took his revenge by kidnapping our Ellen do you?" The elderly man wanted to know. Olivia heaved a sigh, knowing what she needed to say next.

"Bozzard was arrested and convicted in Pennsylvania not long after he left your farm for kidnapping and sexually assaulting his girlfriend. He was forced to register as a sex offender but he seems to have slipped out of Pennsylvania and off the grid completely. In today's day and age that is not so easy to do but he's had years of practice. Ellen's hair was dyed multiple times into multiple different shades. My guess is that the reason no one caught him before was that he kept changing his appearance and hers and they moved around a lot. Since they had no ties to the communities they went to, they could slip in and slip out without much notice," she filled them in.

"What did he do to our baby?" Mrs. Wyatt wanted to know. Olivia then delved into the details of everything that had occurred since she had received the call from Warden Drysdale.

"Oh dear God," Mrs. Wyatt began to cry and Olivia handed her the tissue box from her desk.

"I am so very sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt. We'll catch him and we'll make sure he stands trial for what he's done," she promised.

"What can you charge him with? How long could he really go to jail for?" Mr. Wyatt asked.

"Well he impersonated a police officer, forged official police files, failed to register as a sex offender in New York, and committed arson, kidnapping, and rape. He will go away for a very long time if not the rest of his life. We are doing everything we can to find him," Olivia tried to reassure them again.

"Why take our little Ellen?" Mrs. Wyatt wanted to know.

"I can't say for certainty why things like this happen but I know that Ellen will need help recovering. She's being taken care of by the capable people at Bellevue. Doctor Huang is a psychiatrist on loan from the FBI and he's been helping her. In fact he's going to take you to her very shortly," Olivia gave a slight smile.

"Thank you for all you've been doing. We can never thank you enough," Mr. Wyatt said. Olivia just smiled and stood from her seat behind her desk. She then escorted them out into the bull pen as Doctor Huang walked through the door. Introductions were quick and he quickly got them heading out to his car.

"You have an APB out for this jerk?" McMillan asked.

"Yes and Huang had the FBI put out a nationwide alert as well. He could be stalking his next victim right now. The news is set to broadcast his photo soon," Olivia nodded.

"Good. As far as Ben Wyatt goes, he admitted to killing Warden Drysdale. He confronted him about the prisoner that was brought in and he thought the Warden was lying to him. After he couldn't get a straight answer, his anger won out. That's when he beat the Warden to death. He also admitted to attacking Rachel March. She's going to be ok but she'll spend the rest of her sentence at the hospital in the secure wing. The blow gave her a nasty concussion and swelling on her spinal cord but nothing she can't walk away from," the Sergeant filled her in.

"That's good to hear. Thanks again for all your help," Olivia shook his hand.

"Any time. Keep me posted," McMillan smiled before heading out himself.


	22. Chapter 22

Olivia walked into the diner with Noah in his baby carrier. She had run back to her place after the meeting with the Wyatts and grabbed what she and Noah would need for a few days to make sure she stayed out of Brian's way. Fin had then let her put the stuff in his car and promised to catch her later. The case was going nowhere this evening and the team had disbanded for the night with Amaro due in in the morning after stopping to speak with Don Gottfried. They had to officially rule him out and since Nick was done with his stint as the Warden, he was the perfect one to question him. Fin and Rollins had an appointment to speak to the cops in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where Bozzard had been arrested, via video conference in the morning as well.

"Hey there little guy. You being good for your Momma?" Elliot asked as Olivia set the carrier down on the table.

"He's trying but his Momma needs to get more sleep and it isn't because of him," she heaved a sigh as she moved Noah down to the bench seat of the booth next to her. He gurgled and smiled at her and she practically melted where she sat. no matter what kind of day she was having, he always made her feel better.

"How is Momma?" He asked, amused that they were speaking in such a way.

"She tired, hungry, and frustrated. How about you?" Olivia asked.

"My boss at the storage facility is thinking about getting me a gun and he's installing cable. His wife kicked him out this morning after he spent all night out without telling her where he went. So I can't complain," Elliot smiled slightly.

"Two guys, shacking it up at the storage facility, sounds romantic," she chuckled.

"Oh it would be if we both weren't missing the women in our lives," he admitted. Olivia just nodded. He reached across the table and took her hands in his.

"How are you really?" He wanted to know.

"Well let's recap. The case is currently twisting in the wind because the guy we think did it is completely off the radar. I had to tell the parents of the victim that our suspect did all manner of horrible things to her. Fin is letting us stay with him a few nights while Brian gets his stuff and gets out. And as an added bonus, I'm not sleeping because of the nightmares that refuse to go away," Olivia placed her head down on their clamped hands and heaved another sigh. Elliot had to admit, she would never have been so forward with him when he asked when they were partners. A lot had changed and he feared that the woman he used to know was buried among feelings of insecurity. It was perfectly normal to be that given the portion of the William Lewis tale he did know.

"Did you guys want to order or should I just get the little guy some milk for a bottle?" The waitress asked. She hated to intrude but the night had been slow and they were the only table she had at the moment.

"Two cheeseburgers with fries, please. I'll take a chocolate shake and she'll have a vanilla. Thanks," Elliot said. Olivia picked up her head and gave him a look. There was a time he'd have been shot for presuming to know what she wanted but the fact that he remembered their orders blew Olivia away.

"Some things you never forget," he smiled.

"I guess so," she smiled back. Noah began to fuss and she quickly let go of Elliot's hands and turned to the little boy. Elliot couldn't help but smile at what he saw as he could feel her warmth disappearing from his hands.

"I told you, you'd make a great mom," he said as Olivia removed Noah from his seat and calmed him down. Grabbing the diaper bag, she fished out a bottle and gave it to him.

"Yes you did," she smiled.

"I want to help you," Elliot told her.

"You said we could help each other. How? You're trying to stay sober and what is going on in my life would drive anyone to drink. I know the warning that the Captain gave me kept playing in my head. I was drinking almost every night until Noah came along. I've managed to curb it but sometimes the only thing that helps me sleep is a drink or two. I don't want to become my mother," Olivia admitted. Elliot knew that Olivia's mother had been a complete drunk and quite a few times before she passed Olivia would end up on Elliot's front stoop at her wits end because her mom needed someone to give her a ride home and she automatically expected the daughter she physically and emotionally abused to do it.

"You won't. I will help you. You're going to see a therapist right? Have you told him about your concerns?" Elliot asked.

"Yes, he's helping but the nightmares won't go away. Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon. Maybe I just want life to go back to the way it was but then again how can my life go back to normal after what's happened?" She wanted to know.

"You're not asking yourself the same questions many of the people we helped asked. I know that you can get back to normal or at least a sense of normal. You just have to give it some time," he said. She appreciated that he didn't use the word "victims". She's heard that so much lately. That she had been a victim. That she needed to take more time off. That she shouldn't get so frustrated. The fact of the matter was she thought Lewis' death would bring some sort of closure but it was not the closure she was hoping for.

"Together we'll work through our messes and get back to being the friends we once were. I have apartments I'm looking at tomorrow. My boss is going to call some of his friends and see if they need some help so I can make some more money. I'm going to meetings whenever I can. This isn't easy but it's what I need to do so I can see my kids and so I can be there for you, if you want me or need me. I know we need to rebuild but I want to. Do you, really and truly now that you've had some time to think about it?" Elliot wanted to know.

"Yes," Olivia nodded.


	23. Chapter 23

"Thanks again Fin for your help," Olivia smiled at the man she often considered like a brother.

"Anytime baby girl, you know that. You want some more coffee?" He asked as they ate breakfast in his kitchen.

"Yes please. That stuff at the precinct is killing me slowly," she nodded before biting into her toast.

"Oh I know what you mean. I asked Nick about getting something that wouldn't take the rust off the car bumper. He said that it was offensive to think he could get his hands on real coffee just because he is a Latino," Fin chuckled.

"He thought you were making a remark about him being Latino?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"That coffee we have messes with your mind. I told him I was hoping there was a place near him that had some decent coffee that didn't cost twelve dollars a cup and that I was offended he thought I was being offensive. Needless to say Rollins chimed in that he was being an idiot and he offered to investigate," Fin chuckled.

"Does he seem on edge to you?" She asked.

"A little bit but then again his whole home situation isn't exactly what he'd like," Tutuola pointed out, referring to the fact that his ex-wife had taken his daughter to Los Angeles. The commute to Washington DC had been tough enough but Los Angeles was near to impossible with his work schedule.

"Yes well I know he's not alone. The job does things to you there is no doubt," Olivia nodded before sipping some more coffee.

"How are you doing? I mean we're here on our own, no one listening in or interrupting," Fin said.

"Normal is still a ways away I'm afraid. The nightmares, the twitchiness, the second-guessing myself. I mean the other day I checked the lock on the apartment like five times in three minutes, like I hadn't locked the door even though I knew I had. I took to sleeping with my gun under my pillow when Brian wasn't home. I mean I have to worry about Noah and I have to worry about me worrying; it's exhausting and frustrating," she sighed. Fin just nodded. They slipped into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Olivia's phone rang.

"Benson," she answered.

"It's Nick. I'm heading over to speak with Gottfried. Anything I need to know before I go?" He asked.

"Nothing knew yet. See what you can dig up and get back to me," she told him.

"Yes ma'am," he responded before hanging up. Nick turned his rental car into the lot at the Mount Kisco Police Department headquarters. He was stopped by a State Trooper who wanted to see his ID.

"You're not exactly close to your jurisdiction. Need some help?" The Trooper asked.

"Just a quick visit with a possible suspect in a case I'm working, then it's back to the city," Nick explained.

"Gotcha well head into the main doors and then Sergeant McMillan will help you from there," he smiled.

"Thanks," Nick nodded. He rolled up the window and parked the car before heading inside. He was directed to the main desk where the Trooper was sitting in order to keep an eye on the entire precinct. Everyone was under investigation and the Troopers were handling the day to day calls along with anything else that popped up.

"Detective Amaro, good to see you. How can I help you today?" Sergeant McMillan wondered.

"Good to see you too, Sergeant. I need to speak to Don Gottfried, he's on the cleaning crew and he used to work for the Wyatt's," Nick said.

"Ok, let's just see what building he's working in today," the Trooper turned to a stack of papers he had and looked them over.

"Good news, he's right here. I'll patch a call over the radio for him to come up front," McMillan smiled and quickly did as he said he would. It only took about five minutes for the man to arrive.

"You needed something sir?" Don asked.

"Yes, this is Detective Amaro from the NYPD. He has some questions for you regarding the Wyatt's," McMillan explained.

"Not sure how I can help, I haven't worked for them in years," the maintenance man admitted.

"Well why don't you sit in Interview One and maybe you'd be surprised how you can help," the Trooper said.

"Ok sure. Right this way," Don nodded and quickly walked over to the room that the Sergeant had indicated, Nick right behind him.

"First, let me say thanks for speaking with me. I'm sure you're busy," Nick smiled as he closed the door.

"No problem. Anything I can do to help," Don smiled back.

"What can you tell me about the Wyatt's daughter, Ellen?" Nick asked.

"She died in a horrible barn fire some years ago. I just heard that her brother killed the Warden. What is going on?" He may have been working in a job that most people looked down upon but he was certainly not stupid.

"Well we found his sister. She hasn't been dead but held captive by someone and that someone…" Nick trailed off, seeing if the hint he floated would catch on.

"You think I did it?" Don looked flabbergasted.

"I don't know what to think. Someone used the barn fire as a cover for kidnapping her so no one would look for her. It's pretty smart and you don't strike me as the dumb kind, Mr. Gottfried," Nick admitted.

"I could never hurt Ellen. She was a sweet child with a disability. Whoever did whatever they did to her is sick," Don told him.

"Well the only two sickos that came to the Wyatt's minds were you and Darren Bozzard so tell me everything you know about the barn fire and what's happened in the years since the fire," Nick said. He noticed how Don's face paled at the mention of Bozzard.

"Darren was a sick man. I should have said something when I caught him all those years ago," the maintenance man put his head in his hands.

"Caught him doing what?" Nick was intrigued.

"Back before the barn fire, I caught him snooping around on the farm. I told him he'd better get out of there before Mr. Wyatt saw him. He'd just been fired for stealing and I wasn't going to let anything happen to the Wyatt's if I could help it. You have to understand that Darren had problems. The reason he was stealing wasn't so he could eat it was so he could sell it and then use the money for prostitutes. The man had a problem. I caught him in the barn multiple times doing something other than what he was supposed to be doing," Don explained.

"You mean like playing with himself?" Nick wondered.

"That's a polite way of putting it," Don shook his head.

"Why didn't you tell the Wyatt's?" Nick pushed.

"What was I supposed to tell them? I mean there was no such thing as admitting to your addictions back then. You'd get funny looks and no one would hire you. I thought I was doing him a favor by not saying anything," Don frowned, realizing now that inaction had been a mistake.

"Did he come to you recently? Ask you if you could get his hands on some official police forms?" Amaro wanted to know.

"No, he didn't come to me lately and if he had I would have told him to stay away from me. Despite what I did for him, we were never friends," Don explained.

"Would you have access to paperwork from other police departments?" Nick asked.

"I wouldn't. All forms that are not on the computer would be under lock and key, standard protocol. My boss tells the crews that if we see anyone doing anything that they shouldn't be like trying to fiddle with a locked filing cabinet that we should report them and immediately call Police Chief Dru and…" Don paused.

"What is it?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"The Chief was dirty. The Regetti crime family had him in their pockets," Don said.

"Yes but what does that have to do with Darren?" Nick questioned.

"Well maybe nothing but one night about three weeks ago I was finishing up late and the Chief walked into the building. I was just about to leave and that would only leave the dispatchers and the few officers that stayed at the precinct in case of a call that had to attend to. It's not a very big operation here like you guys probably have in the city so the night shift doesn't amount to a lot and they hardly get any calls so it was odd to see the Chief then. I was about to leave the office I was cleaning and had shut off the lights before he walked in. Seeing him I was going to say something to him when he went for some files in one of the locked cabinets, just outside his office. Files are supposed to remain at the precinct so I just watched him. He was the Chief after all but like I said, I'd never seen him before on the night shift. He stuffed the files into his briefcase and headed back out; probably thinking no one saw him in the darkened hallways. The dispatchers and the officers are on the other side of the building away from the detectives and the Chief's office so if I did say anything sooner it was my word against the Police Chief so I didn't say anything," Don explained.

"You think the Regetti's are counterfeiting documents?" Nick wondered.

"Well why else would he go into the cabinet marked "Forms", late at night?" The maintenance man asked his own question. Nick frowned. Their work in Mount Kisco was far from over.


	24. Chapter 24

"Hey Liv can we talk?" Nick asked as he entered the bull pen after travelling back from Mount Kisco. She looked up from what Rollins was showing her on the computer screen and noted the look on his face.

"Things at Mount Kisco not go so well?" Olivia asked, giving him a questioning look.

"Well you know some things came up," he didn't get specific. Olivia turned to Rollins and wanted to know,

"Where's Fin?"

"He just hit the head. Should I send Briscoe into get him?" Rollins asked.

"Direct him to my office when he comes back. Then you follow. Meantime, Nick, in my office," Olivia ordered.

"Yes Sergeant," Rollins nodded and gave Nick a sideways glance. Nick gave her a raised eyebrow and then followed Olivia into her office. The exchange did not go unnoticed by the Sergeant but they had bigger problems right now then whatever was going on between those two. She was already short staffed and she didn't need an excuse for IAB to come digging.

"So I'm guessing that Don Gottfried is not our man since you didn't bring him with you," Olivia commented.

"He's about as normal as they come but it's what he gave me is what I'm worried about. I promised him what he had to say wouldn't leave the precinct but since I started driving back I thought it best it doesn't leave the team," Nick explained.

"It must have been good whatever it is," Olivia commented as Fin and Rollins entered the office, making sure to close the door behind them.

"So all suspicions aside, Don pointed the finger at Bozzard. He said that Bozzard had a problem," Nick started with everyone now seated.

"Problem?" Rollins asked.

"Apparently he liked to beat off inside the barn when he was supposed to be working. Don said that Darren was stealing from the Wyatt's so he could sell what he stole and then get himself a prostitute. I told Sergeant McMillan to see if any of the local girls recognized Bozzard and see if they knew any of his habits," Amaro told them.

"Well that's great but that doesn't exactly warrant a closed door meeting," Fin pointed out.

"No, but what I learned next does. The Chief up in Mount Kisco came into the office during the night shift and took some forms out of the filing cabinet that are supposed to remain in the filing cabinet. Now Don didn't see what ones but we know that the Chief was dirty and we know he worked for the Regetti Crime Family. Sergeant McMillan promised that he'd let us know if the Chief provided them with any information but what I want to know is, did someone here piss off the Regettis? Because that explains why out of all the precincts, they chose this one," he explained.

"You think that Bozzard works for the Regettis and that's why he's been so hard to find?" Rollins wondered.

"Maybe or maybe he just bought counterfeited police forms from the Regettis and used Liv's name because they want to see Liv in trouble," Nick shrugged.

"Oh there is little doubt what the Regettis want. You remember that sex ring we broke up a few years back Fin?" Olivia asked.

"You think they're still sore about that? You and Elliot had them dead to rights but their lawyer managed to pawn it all off on a lower boss in their ring. The Regettis don't just deal in prostitutes, they also sell drugs, run illegal shipping operations, and traffic just about any woman from anywhere for a price. Part of the problem is that they have two bases of operation, one here in the States, and the other one overseas in Italy. We've tried cutting off the head of the snake but it just grows back someplace else. Both the Feds and Interpol have tried to do the same but haven't been met with much success," Fin said.

"Why pay off a Police Chief in upstate New York? I mean they could go after bigger fish right here in the NYPD," Rollins pointed out.

"Why not attempt to kill Liv or Elliot back when they busted the Regettis? Why wait until now to try and sully Liv's reputation?" Nick wanted to know.

"The Regettis don't want the attention that killing a cop brings. That's why they've been able to duck some of the more serious charges. Let's be honest, despite the fact that they have a large organization, they want it out of the spotlight as much as possible. The pattern has been to disgrace the cop first and then they either meet with a tragic accident or they commit suicide months later after the press coverage falls off. They do it that way so they can avoid the press but also they use it as a tool to pick up cops for their back pocket. They know your dirty little secret and they tell you they'll keep it quiet as long as you work for them. Refuse and they ruin your career before helping you get killed," Olivia explained.

"So what do they think they have on you?" Rollins asked.

"I have no idea," Olivia shook her head but deep down she wondered if William Lewis was coming back to haunt her once again.


	25. Chapter 25

There was still no word on Bozzard's whereabouts and Olivia began to wonder if the man had ever existed. On the brighter side, she received a call from Doctor Huang about Ellen. The meeting with her parents had gone about as well as expected. Ellen was mad at first, then sad when the interpreter explained the situation. There was a lot of learning that Ellen still needed to do and healing and Huang promised to keep Olivia in the loop but for now.

Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt had put a phone call into their older son, Peter. They hated to tell him over the phone everything that had been happening the last few days but he wasn't due back on leave for a month and they knew that they wanted him to hear it from them and not the media. Ellen's name would be kept out of things because she was the victim but her brother Ben would not be. Huang said the call was very tough and he called the base commander and asked if emergency leave could be applied for. The commander promised to see what he could do but he wasn't sure there was much he could do.

"Liv?" The knock on her office door, jarred her from her thoughts.

"What's up Fin?" She asked.

"I just got a call from Melinda. She says we need to meet her down at the morgue," he explained.

"She say what this was about?" Olivia was confused.

"Only that she didn't want to talk about it over the phone," Fin shrugged. Olivia nodded and stood from her desk. Grabbing her coat off the rack, she slipped it on and headed out of the office door, right behind Fin.

"Where are Amaro and Rollins?" She asked, noting that they were not at their desks. Officially until Bozzard was caught, they had to move onto other cases that were beginning to pile up. Unofficially, both were doing some digging on how their bad guy was linked to the Regetti Crime Family.

"They said they might have a lead and they promised to scope it out," Fin explained, knowing that Olivia had been distracted as much as she tried to hide it. She just nodded as they exited the bull pen and headed for Fin's standard issue vehicle.

"So what have you got for us?" Olivia asked as they entered the morgue. The two detectives had caught up with Melinda in her office and now were shifting to the body she had on her freezer.

"A stinky one," she smirked.

"They all smell," Fin shook his head.

"Yes but this one smells like Mob hit," Melinda admitted.

"Mob hit? You should be calling Homicide, not us," Olivia said.

"Thought you'd want first crack at him," the medical examiner shrugged as she pulled open the freezer door and pulled out the body.

"He's been in the water for about three days but you'll note that that isn't what killed him," Melinda said, the all too obvious head wound backed up her statement.

"Cement shoes?" Fin asked as he peeked under the end of the sheet where the victim's feet seemed to be a little too large for a normal human being.

"The very same," the coroner nodded.

"Still a little uncertain as to why…" Olivia stopped when she noted the tattoo on the body's shoulder.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Not sure what it once was. Decomp messes with that on the outside, I'd have to cut off the skin and see if the underlying dermis could be more helpful. You don't need the tattoo though. I ran his DNA through the system in an attempt to ID him," Melinda then handed them a file that was pretty thick.

"Darren Bozzard," Olivia couldn't believe it.

"That's what the DNA says," Melinda nodded.

"How'd they find him?" Fin asked, noting that the cement seemed pretty solid and it would have been very heavy.

"Two barnacle scrapers were working at the docks over on when they noted the increased fish activity. It was odd for that spot given its location so they swam over to investigate. Needless to say they got an eyeful," she explained.

"Where do they work?" Olivia asked.

"Over on City Island," Melinda said.

"The Regettis own a restaurant down there," she breathed.

"Yeah heck of a coincidence huh?" Fin had a slight smirk.

"Who's working this?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Major Case is until they can prove its Mob related. Then it might get kicked up to Organized Crime. Why?" Melinda asked.

"I need to call Eames and see if she can get me some help with the detectives over there," Olivia commented, grabbing her phone from her pocket.

"What's going on?" Melinda asked Fin.

"Your dead guy is the rapist we've been looking for. We think the Regettis sold him some counterfeit NYPD forms. They have Liv in the cross-hairs," he said.

"That's not good, especially considering I hadn't gotten to the weird part yet," she swallowed.

"Weird part?" Fin gave her a look.

"Yeah for a Mob hit this was odd because…" she trailed off and lifted the sheet lower down on Bozzard's body.

"They cut off the family jewels," Fin grimaced just a little bit.

"Only time somebody does that is if they're paying him back for something. And what is even weirder is that the bullet wound doesn't show much signs of blood flow," Melinda put the sheet back down.

"They were letting him bleed out before they capped his ass," Fin said.

"A little more sadistic if you ask me," she nodded.

"So is this a Mob hit or was someone trying to make it look that way?" He wondered.


	26. Chapter 26

"Sergeant Benson?" A tall, lanky man in a trench coat, at her door asked. She looked up from her computer screen and stood up from her seat. She had arrived back from the morgue and sent Fin home. He promised to call Amaro and Rollins and tell them the update along with the message to come back in the morning.

"That's me. You are?" She asked, extending her hand.

"Detective Ramirez and my partner is Detective Mills." He smiled slightly and shook her hand.

"Can you close the door?" She asked the second detective, a woman who stood at about a head and shoulders shorter than her partner.

"Yes, ma'am," she nodded before quickly doing so. Olivia directed them to the seats in front of her desk before shaking Detective Mills' hand and then sitting down.

"The Captain said he got a call from a Lieutenant who used to serve under him. What did you need us for so badly?" Detective Ramirez asked.

"I've been to the morgue and the body you're handling ties into my squad's case," Olivia explained.

"Oh well you want first crack at him? The only reason you weren't called in was because the nature of the murder seemed like the Mob. The whole cutting off his privates thing was out of character but given where the body was found the chances that the Mob was involved were pretty good," Ramirez admitted.

"Normally, I'd agree with you if the circumstances were normal. They are far from it. The dead man kidnapped an eight year old deaf girl from her farm and burned the barn down to cover his tracks. No one was looking for her because she had run into the barn after it had caught fire. Needless to say when she turned up at Taconic Correctional, the Warden alerted me to what seemed like an improper prisoner transfer. Well she wasn't my prisoner; she was Darren Bozzard's. He held her for over twenty years and then when he was done with her, he put her into the facility where her brother was a guard. Needless to say, I did not sign the paperwork. So we believe that Bozzard purchased the forms from someone who had access to excellent forgeries or copies of the real deal. We were right when the Police Chief up in Mount Kisco was arrested for working for the Regetti Crime Family," Olivia said, bringing them almost up to speed.

"So now that you were on their trail, you think that the Regettis killed Bozzard for being sloppy," Mills spoke up.

"Yes we do. Technically, our rapist has been caught and the case will close except for that paperwork that the Regettis passed off. They used my name which I believe means they intend to come after me. Seems they are still mad about their sex ring that my old partner and I busted some years back," Benson told them. The last part was more than likely a lie but she wasn't going to bring William Lewis into this unless she absolutely had to.

"Have you gotten protection for you and your family?" Ramirez wanted to know.

"I have that covered. What I don't have covered is how we're going to bust these guys," Olivia admitted.

"Why don't we work the homicide? We'll handle it as a separate case and then if we happen to hit a nerve with the Regettis, we'll let you know. I think if we announce that we caught the guy who did horrible things to that poor deaf girl, they may close ranks and then we'll never get anywhere," Mills suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. No doubt someone noticed you guys fishing the body out of the harbor so watch for more bodies to drop. The Regettis don't handle incompetency well. Just ask Bozzard," Olivia said.

"What if the reason they cut off his family jewels was because he got overly handsy with one of their working girls?" Ramirez wondered.

"It's possible. Bozzard had a problem when it came to keeping it in his pants," Olivia shrugged.

"Well we'll do the digging and keep you in the loop. Thanks for reading us in," Mills said before standing. Her partner and Olivia stood as well.

"Thanks for helping out. The more we can…" Benson paused, seeing a woman who looked like she was very nervous walk into the bull pen. The two detectives followed her gaze.

"You know her?" Ramirez asked.

"No, but I have a feeling, I'm about to. Thanks again," Olivia smiled. The two nodded and headed out of the office. Olivia followed them and quickly introduced herself to the woman. She was about the same height as Ellen and she had black hair.

"I… I…" the woman was incredibly nervous and Olivia suggested that they have a seat in her office but the woman stood her ground as if she was frozen to the spot.

"He attacked me," she said, practically in a whisper.

"When did this happen?" Olivia wanted to know. The woman was obviously traumatized.

"What day is it?" The question was odd but the trained detective responded,

"Tuesday, the twenty-eighth."

"Three days ago, I think. I just remember waking up in some apartment that wasn't mine and he was on top of me. I tried to fight him but he was too strong," came the reply.

"How'd you get away?" Olivia asked.

"There was a leaky pipe or something and the maintenance man entered the apartment. He found me and untied my arms. Then he gave me directions to the precinct and money for a cab," she explained. It sounded a little odd but someone who ties up the victim then doesn't disappear unless someone got there first and got rid of him.

"Why don't we move to my office and you can give me all the details? I'll make sure we catch this guy," Olivia suggested.

"They said you say that," the sentence was odd and Olivia gave her a look. It wasn't until the cold metal of a silencer was placed against her stomach that she understood.

"Mr. Regetti would like to speak with you. He says you come quietly or I shoot you, make it look like you killed yourself. Either way he gets what he wants," the woman said. Olivia just nodded as the woman removed the sergeant's on duty weapon and badge.

"Now move," she ordered.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is rated a Strong T. Mostly inference to things that happened, nothing really explicit but I worry so there you go.

Fin paced at his apartment. He hadn't heard from Olivia and she wasn't home yet. He tried her cell but it went to voicemail. He then tried her office phone and got voicemail as well. It was quite possible she was driving there right this second and she didn't pick up the phone. On the other hand it was an hour later than he expected she'd be back and even in the city, the traffic wasn't that bad after standard quitting time of five o'clock. Grabbing his cell, he was about to try again when there was a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" He called, knowing that Olivia had her own key and would not need to knock.

"It's Detective Ramirez from Major Case. Is Sergeant Benson there?" He asked thru the door. Fin checked the peephole and then opened the door.

"She tell you you'd find her here?" Tutuola wanted to know, as he ushered the detective in and closed the door.

"Lieutenant Eames said that she was here for her own safety. The only reason I called the Lieutenant was because I couldn't reach Sergeant Benson on her phone – either of them," he said.

"Shit," Fin cursed.

"What's going on?" Ramirez asked.

"Nothing good. I need to talk to my neighbor, see if she can watch Noah. Then we need to call Rollins and Amaro," Fin said.

"Those the other detectives in your squad?" Ramirez inquired.

"Yeah, maybe they've heard from her," Fin shrugged and quickly ducked out to his neighbor while Ramirez called his partner who was down in the car.

"All right. I've got Noah a baby sitter, let's roll," Fin said, grabbing his coat as his neighbor Mrs. Sanchez came over to watch the little tyke.

"Mills is downstairs in the car waiting," Ramirez nodded as Fin quickly dialed Rollins. The blonde confirmed that she hadn't seen the Sergeant and would call Amaro on the double. They agreed to meet at the precinct.

"You guys see anything when you left?" Fin wanted to know.

"It looked like a lady had come in to report she'd been abused. The Sergeant seemed fine," Mills said as she drove with the lights and sirens on, heading back to the sixteenth precinct. Fin's gut told him that Olivia had been played.

"I'm calling Eames, we need help," he said. She may be working terrorism but she'd have access to cameras that they would not and she'd know who to call to help get the word out.

Meanwhile, Olivia parked her standard issue vehicle behind a warehouse that her kidnapper had directed her to. The moment she shut the engine off, three large men exited the warehouse with their guns drawn. Olivia slowly exited the car and they moved in. With two of the men pointing their guns at her, the third handcuffed her hands behind her.

"The boss wants to see you," the one who cuffed her smirked as his partners holstered their weapons.

"He could have called," she said.

"This is a meeting he'd like to have in person. After all, we wouldn't want IAB getting wind of our newest employees," he told her. Her mind raced. What did he mean by employees? Was the rest of her team here? Was Noah safe? The man behind her gave her a slight shove and they started walking towards the door that the men had exited.

Once inside, the men directed her through the darkened hallways until they reached one of the interior rooms which had lights on. They pushed her inside; the woman who had captured followed and closed the door behind them, leaving the men outside to stand guard. Inside the room were two more men, who grabbed her roughly and put her into a metal folding chair where they zip tied her ankles to it. Then they yanked her hands through the opening in the back and zip tied the cuffs to the chair via holes that had been made. It was obvious that these chairs had had many people in them over the years.

"Ah Detective Benson," a familiar voice wafted from the other side of the room which was cloaked in shadow. The woman moved into the shadows and handed the man who spoke the badge and the gun.

"Oops, my bad. You're a Sergeant now. Congratulations. I hear that there are other congratulations in order as well but my source seemed to leave out your promotion," instead of moving from where he stood, he flicked a switch and Olivia's stomach dropped.

"Elliot…" his name escaped her lips and he tried to look over to her but it seems that Regetti's men had worked him over pretty good. His left eye was swollen shut and he had blood dripping down from his mouth. The man took the opportunity of her soaking in what she saw to make the introductions.

"I know you've met the man in the chair but I might as well introduce myself. I am Don Carmine Regetti. My lovely assistant Regina says you cooperated. I'm very glad that she didn't need to shoot you before I gave you my offer," he said.

"What offer? Did you really think that I would work for you? That Elliot would work for you?" Olivia asked.

"Well I had hoped that one of you would. You see the original plan was to threaten one of you to do my bidding. Whoever caved first in order to stop the pain the other was in would earn the chance to live. It sounded much better than the typical blackmail. But it seems Elliot is no longer on the force which makes him the expendable one and you the valuable one. So my offer is simple. Work for me and my family. Feed us the information we want to know or I have my boys make Elliot feel everything they do to him before they drown him in the river," Regetti told her. Olivia gave him a look, unsure of how to answer. Anything other than "yes" could lead to Elliot's demise.

"Now you don't have much time to think about it. Although I'm surprised you have lasted this long, especially after what happened to you, not all that long ago," Regetti smirked slightly.

"What would you know about it?" She spat.

"Oh I know that you didn't tell the truth, sweetheart. You see the original plan was for Lewis to get inside the prison to help a friend of mine. He went off script but I allowed him to, knowing it would draw the attention of SVU. It was almost like killing two birds with one stone, except you managed to beat the crap out of him and surprisingly didn't get punished for it. Then again, we both know that Lewis punished you plenty. His subsequent escape from jail without helping my friend got me very upset. If you hadn't managed to get him to kill himself, I would have done it for him," Regetti continued to smirk as he moved closer to her.

"You stay away from her!" Elliot shouted from his side of the room.

"Still protective of her are you? Where were you when she needed you? Where were you when Lewis was burning her fantastic skin? Where were you when he used her as his own personal sex toy?" Carmine asked. Elliot hung his head. He hadn't been there.

"You were too self-absorbed, hiding in a bottle or hiding in some other vice to care. You know that Lewis wasn't exactly quiet about what he'd done. The sick bastard was proud of it. That was part of the reason he needed to die. Him and that trash Bozzard. Men can be such pigs and I have no use for them in my organization," Regetti said.

"Your men don't think twice before they assault those poor girls that you force to work for you," Olivia spoke up.

"Those girls are my property and the boys have just as much stake in them as I do. Ladies such as yourself and Regina do not deserve it," he told her before moving closer to her and out of earshot of Elliot.

"Of course that will change if you decide that you will refuse to work for me. Your refusal will end in the death of your beloved Elliot, you, and that precious little boy you're fostering. I will be forced to make an example out of you if you do not comply. We both know the example Lewis was trying to set. I see no reason to not finish what he started. Of course if you say yes, then you'll be my property so perhaps, either way, I'll get what I want," at these words Olivia paled. She saw no way out.


	28. Chapter 28

Fin was back to pacing only this time it was in the precinct. Lieutenant Eames had her team scouring the footage from cameras and satellites and trying to ping Olivia's cell phone. Now she joined Fin in pacing while she gave out orders.

"This can't be happening again," Fin said. Eames stopped pacing and pulled the detective aside.

"Hey. Liv is one of the toughest cops I know. We've got a team at your apartment watching Noah and the Organized Crime Unit is sending teams to Regetti's known land holdings. They'll find her," she said.

"You sure? The guys at the front gate couldn't manage to keep the lady with the gun and the silencer out," Fin pointed out.

"Regetti isn't stupid. He knew that looking like a victim would ensure that the cops would be less likely to search her. Olivia leaving the building with her would also not have sent up red flags. The only reason we know the kidnapping was him was because the Organized Crime Unit recognized Regina. We've got this," Eames tried to reassure him but she knew he wouldn't feel better until Olivia was out of harm's way. It was no secret what the unit had gone through when Lewis had kidnapped Olivia and this was just adding to the pile.

"I heard what happened. Can I help?" A familiar voice asked.

"Captain!" Rollins stood up from her seat and shook his hand. Amaro didn't look up from his computer screen but waved. He wasn't going to let anything happen to his old partner. Not again.

"Who called you?" Eames smirked, knowing that the former leader of the SVU squad would be a great help as she shook his hand.

"A little birdy," Cragen smirked.

"Ma'am? Sergeant Benson's phone was just turned back on. I've got it moving back toward Detective Tutuola's apartment," TARU specialist Woo spoke up.

"Alert the unit at his apartment. Get Organized Crime up to speed. Anybody have footage of Sergeant Benson's car?" Eames asked.

"I think I found something!" Amaro shouted. He had been combing the footage near Olivia's apartment.

"What is it?" Eames demanded.

"Her car was stopped at the corner, near her apartment when another car ran the red light. It snapped a picture and Liv isn't in the front seat," Nick said.

"We have a team at her place. Alert them that they might be getting company soon and not the nice kind," Eames ordered. Nick nodded and quickly picked up the phone to call them.

"Something isn't right," Cragen said.

"Yeah, if Liv's phone is heading to my place and her car is heading toward her apartment, where the hell is she?" Fin asked.

"She could be in the trunk of her car and they took her phone somewhere else to throw us off the scent. She could not be in either place and still at one of Regetti's buildings," Eames wasn't done but she got interrupted by Woo.

"Shots fired at Sergeant Benson's apartment! All available units are being dispatched!" The TARU specialist shouted as the radio chatter floated in.

"Rollins! Amaro! Head over there! Fin, see if you can't get the team at your apartment on the horn," Cragen barked and Eames smirked slightly, realizing old habits die hard, as she radioed to the teams searching the buildings for Olivia.

"So far we haven't found anything. City Island was clean. We're moving to a warehouse he has on East Kingsbridge Road in Mount Vernon," the team leader, Sergeant Magner, informed her.

"Keep looking. We have shots fired at her apartment and her phone is heading toward Detective Tutuola's apartment. Someone is trying to make us go in every direction which could mean that she never left the original hiding place," Eames said.

"Yes Lieutenant. We'll radio if we find anything," he said. She then turned to the former Captain and asked,

"Any word at her apartment?"

"Sounds like some of Regetti's men had come there looking for something. They broke down the door and the team killed them. A search of the trunk yielded nothing. Liv wasn't with them," Cragen heaved a sigh a relief that whatever the men were looking for they didn't get but he was nervous that Olivia was still out there somewhere.

"They must be going after Noah," Eames said.

"The team at my place was able to arrest Regina and the man she had with her. They don't have Liv and they aren't talking. They're bringing them in now and bringing Noah here too," Fin said after he got off the radio.

"Where the hell is she?" Cragen wanted to know.

"My guess is that they're holding her until they have Noah. It gets back to Regetti that we're onto him, he could dump Liv," Alex frowned. She didn't voice her opinion that Regetti wouldn't hesitate to harm or kill Olivia. He had killed retired cops before so the next step to an active duty officer wasn't such a stretch considering he was willing to go after Noah.

"Yeah, right into the East River," Fin shook his head before answering his phone. Cragen shook his head. Suddenly the radio crackled to life with shouts of "10-13 Officer down! Requesting back up at East Kingsbridge Road warehouse in Mount Vernon! We're taking heavy fire! We need a bus!" The voice was unmistakably Sergeant Magner's.

"Fin with me!" Eames shouted and the two rushed off out of the precinct, leaving Cragen behind. He hoped that they would find Olivia and that she would be all right.


	29. Chapter 29

Olivia slowly opened her eyes, the harsh fluorescent light, doing nothing for her splitting headache. As she squinted, she realized that she was no longer in the warehouse and in the hospital. She opened her mouth to speak as she attempted to sit up but she was parched and the room suddenly spun.

"Whoa, easy there," Don Cragen smiled slightly at her and gently pushed her back down before raising the bed up into the sitting position. He then poured her some water into the pink cup on the food tray near her bed and let her drink.

"You have what they call a traumatic brain injury," he explained as he dimmed the lights so she could stop squinting.

"What happened? Where's Noah?" She was finally able to ask.

"Organized Crime led a SWAT team into the building you were being held at. Regetti and his crew tried to fend off the team and as part of their escape they were using you as a human shield. When they were almost clear, they shoved you and that chair you were tied to the floor. Sergeant Magner said he still can't figure out how you didn't split your skin open when your head hit the concrete floor," Don told her.

"Why don't I remember that?" Olivia wanted to know.

"You actually fractured your skull, what they call a "closed fracture". The doctors figured you might have some short term memory loss and they are keeping an eye out for bleeding in your brain," he admitted. She nodded slightly and regretted it as the world spun again. She closed her eyes for a second and the nausea passed.

"What happened to my legs and my wrists?" She asked, just realizing that she had pain in more than one place along with some bandages.

"You were zip tied to the chair and when you fell over the ties cut into your skin. One of Regetti's men grazed your arm while shooting at the cops who had come to rescue you. Considering how bad it could have been, you're very lucky," Don smiled slightly.

"How long was I out?" Olivia wanted to know, realizing that the sun was setting on the current day and it had been dark when she had been kidnapped.

"Three days. The doctors were closely monitoring you to see if you would slip into a coma. Luckily you didn't. As for Noah, the team has been splitting babysitting duties," Don said. Olivia heaved a sigh of relief. Then her brain reminded her of something very important,  
"Elliot. He was there. What happened to…"

"He was a little worse for wear when the team got to him," Don quickly slowed her down, not wanting her to become agitated. He could see she wanted to get out of bed and he stopped her.

"He's right down the hall but he has broken ribs, a broken arm, lots of bruising and cuts, and one of Regetti's men shot him out of spite as they were escaping. He was hit in the leg but he'll be fine. You both are confined to bed rest for the foreseeable future," Don pulled out his stern father-figure tone of voice. Surprisingly, Olivia just heaved a sigh and relaxed.

"Does Kathy know? What about his kids?" She asked.

"I called them. They've been visiting." He explained.

"Who's leading the squad? When can I see Noah?" Olivia probed.

"Lieutenant Eames offered to take your place while you were out. She doesn't have much experience with SVU but between her Major Case background and her Terrorism Task Force, she'll be fine while you recover. Fin is helping her through too. None of the other SVU units could spare a Sergeant and Lieutenant Murphy is otherwise engaged or so Lieutenant Eames was told," Don seemed confused at the reference of Murphy, whom he had never met.

"When Lewis escaped custody, Murphy took over. One PP didn't want me leading the unit," Olivia explained.

"Ah I see. Now as for Noah, your foster care social worker, Miss Chantal Jackson, has been rigorously testing the squad about taking care of Noah. She's not happy about the situation but I think Lieutenant Eames put her at ease for now. Fin wants to bring Noah by but he wanted to wait until you felt a little better," Don smiled slightly. He knew that Noah was very important to her after Fin brought him up to speed on how Olivia ended up with a baby.

"They're going to take him away from me," she said almost imperceptibly, her new sense of insecurity floating to the surface.

"No, they are not. Don't worry kiddo. I won't let that happen," he told her as he gently took her hand and gave it a squeeze. Olivia looked at him, unsure if she'd heard him right. He just smiled slightly. He had never had kids of his own and he often looked at his detectives as his children. Though there were times he was glad they were not his biologically, they were the best group of detectives he could have asked for and he was proud.

"Did they get Regetti?" She changed the subject.

"No but they've frozen his assets and staked out his home and other land holdings. They'll find him," Don smiled. He hoped he wasn't telling her a lie. Truth of the matter was, they couldn't find the mobster and he was worried that revenge was still possible.


	30. Chapter 30

Three days passed since Don had filled Olivia in and Fin was now finally able to bring Noah in to see his foster mom. She smiled as Fin set the little guy down on her lap. Her wrists were better but not enough that she felt comfortable holding him up. She didn't need to worry about that however because the moment that Noah sat down, he leaned up against her. She gently embraced the little boy and kissed the top of his head.

"I missed you so much," she said.

"I know he missed you. At some point, Uncle Fin wasn't very fun anymore. Aunt Amanda and Uncle Nick tried their best too but he was just not having it," Fin told her.

"I cannot thank you guys enough for your help. It really means so much to the both of us," Olivia smiled.

"Hey, anything for you baby girl. You know that," Fin gave her a wink.

"How are things in the squad room?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Lieutenant Eames is a pretty good egg. Not you of course," Fin winked again.

"Well with any luck, I'll be out of here soon. Any word on Regetti?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Nothing yet. No one is sure how he managed to avoid the dragnet we have going but we've notified the FBI and Homeland Security just the same in case he tries to leave the country. He'd be stupid to try something again so soon anyway," he said.

"True but he really doesn't have much to lose. He kidnapped a police officer at gunpoint in a precinct. It was incredibly bold and most definitely something he'd spend a long time in prison for, especially with the assault charges and second kidnapping charge for Elliot," she was slightly worried that he'd try something anyway. Even if he didn't, how long would she and Noah need to be looking over their shoulders?

"Well that's why we've got a guard outside your door and Elliot's. So why did Regetti want him anyway? He couldn't help with whatever Regetti wanted," Fin questioned the mobster's motive.

"Seems I was right about the revenge angle. Although, I have to admit, despite Regetti having spies everywhere, they didn't know Elliot wasn't on the force anymore. They basically were going to use him as a punching bag until I did what they wanted," Olivia admitted.

"The man sure likes to hold a grudge huh?" He shook his head.

"I guess," she shrugged but Fin could sense there was more to it. He gave her a look and she heaved a sigh. There wasn't much she could get passed him anymore and he deserved to hear it before the official report by IAB came out.

"Regetti hired Lewis to help get a man in his organization out of jail. He was just supposed to get in and then help the man escape but once Lewis got our attention, Regetti just let him run with it. When he escaped and didn't help Regetti's associate, a hit was put out on him. Lewis knew he was going to die but he still wanted to mess with me one last time," Olivia heaved another sigh. She wasn't sure she could cry anymore at this point. The emotional rollercoaster that she had been riding on since Lewis abducted her needed to stop so she could get off. She needed to be strong for Noah and for herself.

"I'm sorry baby girl," Fin hung his head. He felt partially responsible for what happened the first time Lewis had kidnapped her and he knew that Nick felt even guiltier. Olivia reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, it's no one's fault that I got kidnapped. No one figured he'd go to my place after he got out. The Captain was right to send me home to cool off. None of you gave him my address and none of you told him what to do to me. That is all on him. It took me a long time to realize it but that's the truth," Olivia said. Fin looked up at her and realized that some of the old Olivia was back. She was hard as nails and it was good to see it again. The sessions with her therapist were obviously working.

"Hey, is there room for one more?" A familiar voice called from the doorway.

"Seeing as you're a Stabler, I would say no, but that's baby girl's decision," Fin smirked.

"Good to see you too Fin," Elliot chuckled and then regretted it because of his ribs.

"He insisted on coming over here despite the fact that I told him it wasn't a good idea," his daughter, Kathleen, chimed in with a smirk as she pushed the wheelchair he father was currently riding in, completely into the room and then shut the door behind her.

"He should have stayed in bed but then again when did he ever listen?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, he still has that problem," Kathleen chuckled as she pushed the chair closer to the bed Olivia was occupying.

"I'm right here, you know," Elliot shook his head.

"Doesn't mean we can't talk about you," Fin said.

"I see how it is," Elliot rolled his eyes.

"Is that Noah?" Kathleen asked about the now dozing toddler.

"It is. Can you say "hi" Noah? Or is my big boy too tired?" Olivia asked. Noah yawned in response.

"Somebody is tired," Elliot smirked.

"He missed his momma. We all do," Fin smiled slightly before gently lifting the boy up and then putting him in his stroller.

"Can't have you passing out on Momma Bear Benson. You need to stay up a little while longer so Uncle Fin can get some sleep tonight," Fin told Noah.

"Momma Bear Benson?" Olivia gave him a look.

"You like it and you know it," Fin winked and Kathleen sat down on the chair across the room and played with Noah so he wouldn't fall asleep.

"It does have a ring to it," Elliot nodded.

"I'll let it slide for now…" she narrowed her eyes at him and Fin. She moved her gaze back to Elliot, who was bandaged and casted in quite a few places.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

"Like I was hit by a truck," he admitted.

"I know the feeling," Olivia said, remembering to not shake her head. The fracture was healing but it was a slow go of it. It was idle chitchat but what they really wanted to talk about they couldn't with other people in the room. The look they shared made Olivia almost feel like it was the good old days. She knew, however, that the old days were called that for a reason; they were gone. New memories and a new working relationship, whether it was romantic or not, would need to be established.

"Dinner time," a rather chipper nurse walked into the room with a tray and she then realized that there were a lot of people in the room.

"Mr. Stabler! You are not supposed to be out of bed!" She chided.

"I needed to get out of my room. I was feeling cooped up," he said. She shook her head, placed Olivia's dinner down on the tray and then quickly escorted him back to his room. Kathleen said a quick goodbye before following her.

"Want some company?" Fin asked.

"You better go. The nurse is going to want to check my coordination and my bandages," Olivia smiled.

"All right. We'll see you tomorrow. Say "bye" Noah," Fin instructed. The little boy waved and Olivia waved back saying goodbye before Fin pushed the stroller out of the room.


	31. Epilogue

Two weeks later, Elliot was being discharged from the hospital and Olivia promised to pick him up. Kathy had said that he could stay with her and Eli until his ribs were healed and the cast was removed from his arm. The suggestion had seemed very nice considering where the two had left their relationship and Olivia wondered if Kathy wanted him back. She would have offered for him to stay with her at her apartment but it wasn't safe.

In fact, Olivia was still staying at Fin's place because Organized Crime was afraid that Regetti would try to get her at her place. She brought up Fin's safety as a concern but they said for now it was safer for both of them to remain in one location since Fin's place was closer to a precinct and uniforms could easily be swapped from there for the watch shifts. Fin said he would think about moving but he was more worried about finding a permanent home for Olivia and Noah. They were in the process of searching while emptying her apartment and moving items into storage. The landlord at her apartment building was concerned about renting out her place in case the mobster still came looking and Olivia handed him a card for the NYPD public relations office. This was not the first time something like this happened to an officer and it regrettably would not be the last.

"How's the head?" Elliot asked as she helped him into the car.

"Better but I'm still on desk duty for at least two more weeks," she heaved a sigh. She couldn't stand desk duty.

"Oh joy. They left your temporary replacement in charge?" He wondered as she buckled him in despite his protests that he could do it himself. She had told him upstairs that the doctors wanted to make sure it wasn't too tight in case of disturbing his healing ribs.

"No. I'm back in charge but since I can't go out in the field, they sent me a transfer. The guy is bright but we really need to work on his sensitivity," Olivia rolled her eyes at thinking about Detective Dominick Carisi. Still they needed the help and he was getting the hang of it. The only thing that would make him a better detective would be experience and at least she'd get to try to mold him as she wanted.

"Well I wasn't always the most sensitive in the beginning. It's not an easy unit to recruit for," Elliot said after she climbed into the car.

"True. Also not a great conversation starter but that's where the most help is needed. Not that I have to tell you that," she said as she fired up the engine.

"There may be a lot of things you need to tell me. I am definitely not the man I used to be," he heaved a sigh and then noted to himself that he would need to be more careful as pain shot through his midsection. He made a promise that getting back to the gym after he was healthy was the most important thing to do for his body. His mind and his soul were still going to need some work.

"Is that why Kathy is letting you stay at her place?" Olivia wanted to know.

"I guess. I think it's more about getting me back into Eli's life. She and I burned some bridges between us that can't be put back together and to be honest, I don't want to put them back together. Sure, we should be able to be civil to one another but I imagine that's it," Elliot admitted.

"Oh," was all she said but her former partner could tell there was more. He also knew not to push it. She was different from the last time they had spoken all those years back too.

"So little Noah seems like a good kid. Glad to see that you finally got to be a mom," he decided to try the back door.

"Noah is great. I just wish that we'd been able to meet under better circumstances," she confessed. Sometimes she wondered if the only way for her to become a parent had been through pedophiles and murder, then maybe she was never worthy enough to have a child of her own.

"Well a child in foster care isn't going to have a happy story. The good news is that you can tell him about it if you want or you can let him figure it out when he gets older; it'll be his decision. He's young enough that he won't remember the bad stuff," Elliot pointed out. She had filled him in during their hospital stay on how she had gotten Noah and Elliot couldn't help but smile. Olivia would be a great mother. She had nothing to worry about.

Silence fell for a little bit until they hit a right light only a few blocks away from the old Stabler residence. Olivia turned and looked at him and said,

"I was worried that they would kill you."

"I was worried that they'd do the same to you," he told her. The light turned green and Olivia moved the car down the road.

"We were lucky but I'd still give you my kidney," Elliot said. A small smirk appeared on Olivia's face.

"Not if I gave you mine first," she said.

**THE END**


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